By John Ikani
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote has been conferred with the Champion Of Local Content Development In Africa Award.
Engr. Wabote picked the award on Saturday at the inaugural Afri-Heritage Concert and Awards held in Kigali, Rwanda.
The recognition was instituted by Heritage Times [HT], a Pan-African medium committed to promoting transparency & accountability in governance and fostering a sustainable democratic Africa.
Heritage Times, in its formal announcement of Engr. Wabote’s selection and suitability for the recognition explained that the Executive Secretary was found worthy of the award for “galvanizing leaders across Africa to harness their local content potential for the growth of Africa.”
It noted that “Engr. Wabote initiated a number of annual Pan-African events to provide networking platforms for indigenous players in Africa.”
Other accomplishments referenced by Heritage Times include “raising the level of Nigerian Content performance in the Nigerian oil and gas industry from 26% at the start of his leadership in 2016 to 54 percent in 2022.”
It also lauded the ES effort at “initiating strategic conversations with the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), and Africa Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBank) on the need to outline new and sustainable models of funding oil and gas investments in Africa.
“As a follow-up, he initiated the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the establishment of the African Energy Bank between APPO and AFREXIMBank”
Speaking after receiving the Award, Engr Wabote expressed delight that “local content has become a daily word in Nigeria and has turned around the fortunes of Nigerian businesses.”
He commended Former President Goodluck Jonathan for signing the Local Content Act in 2010.
Speaking further, the Executive Secretary recalled that prior to the signing of the Act, everything was being done from outside.
“Today I’m proud to say that Nigeria controls 54% of what happens in the oil and gas sector. Having achieved this feat, we decided to assist Africa in the sector”.
“If we don’t think inwards as Africans, very soon the West will refuse to give us the technology and resources to harness our natural resources,” he affirmed.
Engr. Wabote added that when a team from The Gambia approached the World Bank for support in the oil and gas sector, they were referred to Nigeria to understudy.
What you should know
The Champion Of Local Content Development In Africa Award will be making its way to a trove of recognitions that have mounted Engr. Wabote’s cabinet for his relentless efforts at initiating, regulating and catalyzing new opportunities that engender value-adding activities in-country and on the African continent at large.
Barely eight two years ago, the ES received the African Local Content Icon Award instituted by the African Leadership Magazine “for his giant strides in promoting Local Content in Africa.”
In May 2022, he received the Vanguard Newspaper Regulator of The Year 2021 Award – instituted by the Nigerian based newspaper independent of political control – for his “doggedness in delivering local content goals.”
Just recently, Engr Wabote was conferred with Leadership Newspaper Oil and Gas Local Content Champion of the Year Award 2022 “for championing the development of local content across Nigeria and the African continent and building local capacities in the oil and gas industry.”
Did you know the Engr. Wabote was conferred Distinguished Capacity Development Award by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari for the outstanding strides he accomplished, particularly in human and infrastructural capacity development since he was appointed as the helmsman of NCDMB?
Engr. Wabote was appointed as the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB by President Muhammadu Buhari on September 29, 2016.
In recognition of his excellent performance during the first tenure, he was reappointed for a second term by the President on September 25, 2020.
The NCDMB was established in 2010 by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, with a core mandate to manage and grow Nigeria’s local content capacity. So far, it has lived up to its mandate.
For more insight into NCDMB’s giant strides under the transformational leadership of Engr. Wabote, see his self-authored chronicle titled: 6 Years Of Raising The Bar In Local Content Development.
