The Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) have resolved to work together to develop local capacity and employment generation in the Oil and Gas Industry.

This is coming on the hills of the meeting between the Management of NCDMB led by the Executive Secretary, Ernest Nwapa and his PTDF counterpart, Muttaqha Rabe Darma, recently in Abuja.

The two Federal Government agencies have agreed to set up a joint committee, which will work on specific areas critical to the mandate of the organisations, especially for the development of the Oil and Gas Industry.

Speaking at the meeting, Muttaqha Rabe Darma, said the Fund believed that collaborating with NCDMB will help realise the aspiration of government for the sector.

He regretted that through PTDF had over the years developed the capacity of thousands of Nigerians who could perform key roles in the industry, but they were not being utilised by operators and service companies. The PTDF boss admitted that his agency did not have the legal backing to enforce Nigerian Content or create employment for its graduates, and therefore needed the Board’s intervention in that regard.

Ernest Nwapa on his part, said that NCDMB was collaborating with agencies of government like the Nigerian Maritime Administration and safety Agency, the Department of Petroleum Resource and the National Insurance Commission. He noted that working closely with other ministries, departments and agencies is the only way the aspiration of the Federal Government to use the Nigerian Content Act to promote the development and utilisation of local capacity, create employment for Nigerians in the Oil and Gas Industry and drive the development of other sectors of the economy, will be realised.