Champion cause of developing Nigeria’s hydrocarbon industry- NCDMB charges FUPRE

Solomon Ezeme

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has charged the Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE) to champion the cause of developing the manpower and skills needed to service the country’s hydrocarbon industry.

Engr. Simbi Wabote, Executive secretary of the NCDMB gave this charge to the institution , while delivering his lecture at the just concluded FUPRE 3rd Convocation Ceremony.

According to him the country needs the human capacity in order to deepen local content development in every facet of the oil and gas industry as well as the energy transition.

He noted that local content development is a veritable means fostering socio-economic development and human capacity development is an essential component achieving such.

He said, the FUPRE which was specifically set up to bridge the gap between petroleum training and innovation in Nigeria, need to do more in developing the prerequisite skills and manpower to optimise the country’s hydrocarbon resources.

Speaking on the convocation’s themed: “Defining the Value of Local Content in Petroleum Education”, Wabote said, “the outcome of Energy Transition has always been the redistribution of the constituents in the energy mix rather than the outright swap of one form of energy for the other.

He also noted that concerted efforts must be made to develop the critical skills required in the oil and gas industry to ensure that Nigeria’s hydrocarbon resources are utilised for the development of the country, irrespective of the outcome of the debate around energy transition.

The NCDMB boss explained that “energy transition is not new” as human society has, at no time, completely transitioned out of any form of energy.

While highlighting the key functions of the Board’s focus, Wabote noted that local content development is now an integral part of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, especially with regard to driving development across the entire value chain.

“The roadmap of the Board is hinged on 5 pillars and 4 enablers in which one of the pillars is Technical Capability Development which involves developing critical skills & infrastructure that are required & utilized in the oil and gas industry,” Wabote said.

The convocation featured a round table session where top executives and industry captains cutting across both the public and private sectors of the oil and gas industry had discussions on innovation, research and development against the backdrop of energy transition.