Nigerian Govt. initiates programme to unlock potentials of Niger Delta youth in oil, gas industry
Oredola Adeola
The Nigerian Government through the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, (NCDMB) has revealed the plan to unlock the human capacity potentials of youth in oil-producing communities based on the Community Content Guideline, a policy thrust designed by the Board to bring critical infrastructure to host communities and usher development, empowerment and generate employment.
Dr. Ginah O. Ginah, General Manager, Corporate Communication and Zonal Coordination of the Board, made this known while speaking at the Sensitization/Enlightenment Workshop on Community Content Guideline, (CCG), hosted by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, (NCDMB) in Port Harcourt for Youth in Rivers state.
Ginah described the Community Content Guidelines (CCG) as a policy thrust designed by the Board to bring critical infrastructure to host communities and usher development, empowerment and generate employment.
The NCDMB Corporate Communication and Zonal Coordination revealed that the objective of the workshop was to enlighten young Nigerians on how to actively get involved in the oil and gas industry through human capacity development as provided in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development, (NOGICD) (2010) Act.
He further disclosed that the CCG gives community contractors the leverage to partake in projects, partnerships, and initiatives of the Board in the Niger Delta region through direct and indirect access to increase entrepreneurial skills, competencies, and capacities in the oil and gas industry and retain in-country spend as part of the strategy to increase Nigerian Content to 70 percent by 2027.
He stated that such opportunities have already generated employment for members of host communities and trained young people in the area to take up vocations as the Board has achieved a lot in the area of Human Capacity Development.
Fielding questions from participants during the whop, General Manager, gave insight into the Nigerian Content policy which is about the domiciliation of work and development of local capacity with associated benefits.
Speaking further, he charged participants to avail themselves of the Board’s NOGICJQS database and uplbio-data bio data onto the portal in line with the Human Capacity Development Initiative.
Mrs. Angela Okoro, Manager in the Capacity Building Division of the Board, in her presentation, enlightened participants on direct intervention and project-based training and how they can avail themselves of the opportunities by signing up on the NOGICJQS portal for their competencies to be accessed.
Mrs. Okoro reiterated that under the Nigerian Content Human Capacity Development Framework, thousands of young Nigerians have been trained and attached to various projects in the oil and gas sector to gain requisite industry experience and ultimately permanent employment.
She disclosed success stories and testimonials of beneficiaries who have either been gainfully employed within Nigeria as well as other parts of the world, and those who are employers of labour through entrepreneurship.
