The Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), which enforces the Federal Government’s policy on the use domestic human and material resources in their operations, has said its major challenge is the unwillingness of Nigerian firms to comply with the policy.

‘Nigerians are the cause of our problems at the board’, Manager of Capacity Building, Iwhiwhu Maurice, said in Yola, Adamawa State.

Maurice, who represented NCDMB’s Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, added: “Our challenges are Nigerians; Nigerians are not helping us to implement the Act. They are not complying with the law.”

According to Maurice, Nigerian industry leaders are not convinced the government is trying to develop the country by insisting that firms, especially those in the oil and gas sector, should not bring expatriates for such jobs as Nigerians can do.

“Nigerians are the cause of the problem we are facing at the board, but with time we’ll overcome it,” he said.

Maurice who explained that the Nigeria Content Development & Monitoring Board was established in 2010 to regulate the oil and gas industry to ensure that Nigerians are considered for opportunities in the industry, added that one of the board’s mandate is capacity building.

He explained, “Capacity building is to ensure that Nigerians’ participation is being considered, to make sure that they have the competence to work in the oil and gas industry.

“We are targeting secondary school students to catch them young and guide and encourage them towards career choices to prepare them for the industry.”

The Monday event in Yola was a career talk attended by 180 students selected from 30 schools across Adamawa State, as organised by the NCDMB under the theme, ‘Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics: Pathway to Nigerian Content Development and Industrialisation.’

The Lead Facilitator, Mr Kolawole Samuel, said

the federal government is striving to reduce the influence, the number of expatriates working in the oil and gas industry, “especially now that we are beginning to have have oil exploration activities in the North.”

He added, “We are moving to guide the minds of students to opportunities in the oil and gas sector so that they can begin to see how they can fit into the industry and fill indigenous competence gap.”