Strengthening Institutional Collaboration for Better Governance
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have made a significant commitment to enhance their collaboration. This partnership aims to improve corporate governance, strengthen institutional performance, and ensure better service delivery to the people of Nigeria.
This pledge was made during a knowledge exchange session held on Tuesday at the Nigerian Content Tower in Swali, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The event brought together key representatives from both agencies to share insights and strategies for mutual growth.
Enhancing Performance Through Knowledge Sharing
Speaking at the session, the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Felix Ogbe, who was represented by the Director of Corporate Services, Abdulmalik Halilu, emphasized the importance of this engagement. He stated that the meeting would allow sister agencies to “compare notes and evaluate each other’s performance with a view to identifying and eliminating weaknesses.”
Ogbe also highlighted the NCDMB’s recognition of the NDDC as “the number one institution for a peer review mechanism.” He described the meeting as a two-way traffic that would enable both sides to learn from each other’s experiences.
“Let us compare notes and adopt what works. Sessions like this exemplify what institutions should be doing to improve service delivery to stakeholders, including government, citizens, host communities and oil and gas companies,” Ogbe said in a statement released by the NCDMB General Manager, Corporate Communications, Obinna Ezeobi.
Building a Culture of Accountability
In terms of governance and internal processes, the Executive Secretary explained that the NCDMB operates an anti-corruption unit that identifies vulnerable areas and ensures accountability across departments. He noted that the board is always on the pathway towards continuous improvement, stating that “some of the automation in human resources, management systems and several other automated activities are all products of periodic system checks.”
Ogbe also pointed to the multibillion-naira Oloibiri Oil and Gas Museum and Research Centre as a major project where collaboration between both agencies would be mutually beneficial. He recalled that the NDDC management had pledged its involvement in the project at the groundbreaking ceremony in February 2023.
Focusing on Community Integration
Additionally, Ogbe drew attention to the NCDMB’s Community Content Guideline, which aims to integrate host communities into the oil and gas value chain through employment and business opportunities for youths, funding and policy support for contractors, and the establishment of project offices as provided in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010.
He further explained that the Board’s ‘Back-to-the-Creeks’ initiative seeks to provide targeted interventions in oil-and-gas-producing communities, empowering youths through skills training and supporting teachers in rural schools with improved infrastructure.
“The more we invest in young talents in host communities, the more they are made available to participate in oil and gas activities, and as we build entrepreneurs, they are integrated into the oil and gas supply chain,” he said.
Learning from Each Other’s Successes
In his remarks, NDDC’s Director of Corporate Governance, Mr. Anele Nzelaw, commended the NCDMB for its remarkable achievements within a relatively short period. “Our team is here to learn those things that have made your organisation achieve so much within such a short period,” he said.
Citing the emergence of fabrication and construction yards and various human capital development programmes driven by the NOGICD Act, he said the NDDC could learn valuable lessons from the board’s operations.
Nzelaw said the NDDC management was focused on far-reaching reforms after 25 years of mixed results. “It is time to move our businesses from a transactional dimension to a strategic transformational level,” he said.
He revealed that the Commission had engaged KPMG to develop a governance framework that would ensure continuity of policies and programmes, while noting that the NCDMB’s governance structure, internal controls and accountability systems were of special interest to his team.
