Contrary to the claims in certain quarters that the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) spent a whooping N9.9 billion for payment on consultancy, the management of the board which has its corporate headquarters in the Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa has said there is no truth in the allegations.
Describing the allegations as having no iota of truth whatsoever, NCDMB in a statement made available to Maritime Bits stated that the coalition of civil society group peddling the allegations is fake.
According to NCDMB, the group was sponsored to orchestrate a smear campaign against it. In a similar report last week, the group claimed that N7.7 billion was spent of consultancy services which it has increased to N9.9 billion in just one week.
The statement which was issued by NCDMB Corporate Communications Department, said neither the board nor its Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe spent N9.9 billion on consultancy as being claimed by the group.
According to it, the board organised a strategic workshop with heads of ministries, departments, and agencies of government that pertain to the oil and gas industry to interrogate and find areas of alignment in the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010, in line with its Nigerian Content 10 year strategic roadmap’s enabler on stakeholder collaboration and engagements.
The board disclosed that the workshop holds every two years and involves the leadership and senior management of those critical agencies, with a view to ensuring a harmonious policy and regulatory implementation by all agencies and institutions connected with the NOGICD Act implementation.
It also insists that due process was followed and that all expenditures in relation to this strategic workshop and other projects of the board were made in accordance with approved financial and procurement guidelines.
Continuing, it said: “The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) wishes to alert the public that a sponsored group, CCSGG masquerading as a coalition of civil society group for good governance is recycling the same bogus and unfounded allegations that were recently published against the operations of our agency by an online media.
“There was no such expenditure of N9.9 billion naira by the board for consultancy services. It is instructive to note that this figure has moved from N7.7 billion to this new figure within a week by these fake groups masquerading as civil society groups.
“S.B Capital Partners and Advisory Limited, engaged by the board since 2018, offers credit review services for the NCDMB Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCIF) with Bank of Industry. S.B Capital Partners and Advisory Limited credit review is to determine economic viability and bankability of projects submitted to the board through the Bank of Industry (BoI) on our Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCIF).
“The board conducts all its operations within the highest levels of transparency, which is why we have for three consecutive years won the award from the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) as the number one agency in transparency and efficiency amongst all federal ministries, departments and agencies.
“We urge the media and members of the public to completely disregard the concocted allegations by these desperate individuals who are determined to tarnish the hard-earned reputation of the board. We know the sources and sponsors of these attacks on the board and in due time they would be revealed.”
