The Practical Nigerian Content (PNC) forum is an initiative of the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) which has its corporate headquarters in the Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa.

The 13th edition of the PNC has come and gone but its thrills and frills will remain indelible in the hearts of participants.

The annual event which took place from 2th to 5th December 2024 in Yenagoa is the first to be organized by NCDMB since the appointment of Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe as its Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in December 2023.

It is on record that the active participation  of the leading lights of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry in PNC over the years have thus far signified that local content has something of a creedal force in their ranks.

Maritime Bits checks reveals that in-country value addition through enhanced local capacities and capabilities remains the unchanging focus of what participants  must pursue and actualise to enhance Nigeria’s economic performance and sustainable development.

Finding by our reporter at the venue shows that participation at the13th edition of the PNC was unprecedented as everyone that matters in the oil and gas industry and beyond including members of the National Assembly were fully on ground.

Ogbe in his keynote address at the PNC forum, revealed that as at 2024, the Nigerian Content performance level in the oil and gas industry has hit 56 percent.

The NCDMB helmsman also disclosed that the Nigerian content level stood at 54 percent as at December 2022 and 2023, increasing significantly from 26 percent in 2016 before the introduction of the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic roadmap.

Apparently elated by the fact that the establishment of the NCDMB corporate headquarters in Yenagoa has impacted positively on the development of the hitherto sleepy state capital, the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri in his speech was full of praise for the organisers.

The Bayelsa State number one citizen used the occasion to make a case for the oil and gas rich state in terms of siting more Federal Government projects in the state, especially one of the trains in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).

Diri stated that the oil and gas rich state deserves to have one of the NLNG trains built within its territory in recognition of its eminent position in the oil and gas industry.

He hinged his argument on the fact that the state accounts for about 60 per cent of the gas feedstock for the NLNG project, Bonny Island, Rivers State which has now progressed to Train 7.

Diri was represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo at the occasion.

Ewhrudjakpo who laced his remarks with native wisdom and African proverbs that made participants to clap and laugh heartily commended the management of NCDMB for the strides it has made since its establishment.

He reiterated the readiness of the Diri’s administration to continue to support the board to ensure that it attains set goals and objectives in the years ahead.

The highpoint of the 13th edition of the PNC forum was the unveiling of an academy by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo and the Minister for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Right Hon. Heniken October Lokpobiri as well as Ogbe and a representative of the Bank of Industry (BoI) signing an agreement on the Revised Nigerian Content Community Contractors Financing Scheme (NCCCFS).

Apart from Ekpo and Lokpobiri, other top government officials and industry leaders also graced the PNC forum.

These include the Chairperson, Senate Committee on Local Content, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and her counterpart in the lower chamber of the National Assembly, Hon. Boma Goodhead; the Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), Dr. Umar Farouk Ibrahim and CEOs of international and indigenous oil and gas companies and operating and regulatory agencies in the petroleum sector.

The photographs below depict several aspects and stages of the PNC forum from the opening ceremony and other activities that marked the event:

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