Dr. Ginah. O. Ginah, General Manager, Corporate Communications & Zonal Coordination, NCDMB
…Media to promote local content agenda through whistle blowing role by exposing non-compliance activities by players in the industry through investigative journalism.
…The forecast is that oil demand could peak by the early 2020s and fall by a third to 66 million barrel per day in 2040.
-By Felix Douglas
Giving his remarks at the Capacity Building Workshop for Media Stakeholders with the theme “Sustaining Nigerian Content amidst Shifting Energy Landscape: The Role of the Media,” Dr. Ginah. O. Ginah, General Manager, Corporate Communications & Zonal Coordination, made it known that the 3rd consecutive edition of the workshop being held in Lagos has become a major activity for the Nigerian Content Monitoring and Development Board (NCDMB).
He noted that the Capacity Building Workshop is significant in the Board’s calendar because of the critical role the media plays in Nigerian Content development.
Thus, “Beyond the traditional role of promoting Nigerian Content activities and sensitizing the public about the imperative of Local Content to national development, we also expect the media to promote local content agenda and carry out whistle blowing role by exposing non-compliance activities by players in the industry through investigative journalism.
From the inception of the NCDMB in 2010, we identified the media as one of the most important stakeholders in our implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (NOGICD Act).”
He pointed out that strategic implementation of the Act has received several commendations nationally and internationally, including the award conferred on the NCDMB as the “Best Media Friendly Organization in Bayelsa State at the Niger Delta 8th Edition of the Bayelsa Media Awards in March 2021.
Ginah added that Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, the Executive Secretary of the Board was conferred with the African Local Content Icon Award in the 2021 African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA) organized by the African Leadership Magazine.
The General Manager, Corporate Communication of NCDMB, was of the view that the theme of this year’s workshop was chosen in order to draw attention to the Board’s activities in sustaining Nigerian content growth despite the rapid changes in the energy landscape.
“We also want to awaken the media to these changes and their agenda setting role in the context of the emerging developments.”
Energy transition refers to the global push or advocacy move away from fossil-based systems of energy production and consumption — including oil, natural gas and coal — to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, as well as lithium-ion batteries.
He said energy transition is not a recent phenomenon as it has been an ongoing occurrence for centuries. The usual trigger being the need to utilize energy that is efficient, effective, and economic.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that global oil demand will flatten out in the coming two decades. The forecast is that oil demand could peak by the early 2020s and fall by a third to 66 millionbarrel per day in 2040, with road transport responsible for over 60% of the reduction.
According to him this projection portends grave danger for the Nigerian economy which depends on revenues from oil and gas sales for sustenance.
“Thankfully, a few other projections give a more cheerful outlook. Indeed, the International Energy Forum and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have insisted that fossil fuels would retain at least 50 percent of the global energy mix in the next three decades.
The NCDMB helmsman believed strongly that the world would witness energy mix or redistribution rather than an outright swap of fossil fuels to renewable energies.
However, what is more important is how the world will react to these emerging developments. NCDMB has aligned itself completely with the declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva that gas is Nigeria’s transition energy.
It was in this regard that the President declared a Decade of Gas to reinforce Nigeria’s aspiration to leverage on its gas resources estimated at 206 trillion cubic feet (tcf) to develop the country’s national industrial, commercial and agricultural base.
“In our efforts to operationalize this declaration, NCDMB has made several interventions in the gas value-chain which span the development of LPG storage terminals and jetties, inland gas processing to produce LPG and propane, infrastructure for gas gathering and injection into gas pipeline networks, CNG facilities, and manufacturing of composite LPG cylinders.
Two weeks ago, we commissioned Butane Energy Limited 100MT Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Storage and Bottling Plant in Kastina State, which will help address supply constraints in the domestic LPG market in the Northern part of Nigeria through its plant operations/bulk storage, transportation/ distribution, cylinder filling and bulk retail.”
Ginah stated that other planned investments with the company in LPG storage and bottling plants would come up in Abuja, Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi States while six depots would be in Zamfara, Jigawa, Gombe, Plateau, Niger and Nasarawa states.
He told journalists not to be surprised why the Board is getting involved in developing commercial oil and gas projects being a regulatory agency.
Besides, most of NCDMB partnerships are oriented to promote or realise strategic policies of the federal government in the petroleum industry. Its goal is to catalyse strategic government policies and programmes and exit once those businesses become successful.
He revealed that another strategy the Board has adopted towards Energy Transition is Research and Development.
“We have consistently made the point that Nigeria needs to build up our local R&D capabilities in the oil and gas industry and come up with innovative solutions to drive our own energy transition, otherwise the developed world would dictate to us what to do in this conversation.”
He emphasised that the workshop is part of NCDMB strategy to continually engage media stakeholders, to build their capacities and keep them abreast of the Board’s major initiatives as well as developments in the oil and gas industry and the journalism profession.
Ginah enjoined the media to continue its support on NCDMB in order to implement the Nigerian Content Act.
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