From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Bayelsa State government have challenged youths in the state to take advantage of the massive opportunities available in the oil and gas sector to ensure they are productive.
Bayelsa Governor Douye Diri and NCDMB Executive Secretary Engr Simbi Kesiye Wabote stated this at the one-day Practical Nigerian Content (PNC) 2023 Youth Forum with the theme: “Conflict Management Mechanisms and Opportunities around NLNG Train 7 Project,” held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State
According to Diri, the state government has been working to ensure that youths from Bayelsa State compete favourable and do better than their counterparts anywhere else in the country, by engaging them in various programmes and initiatives.
Diri who was represented by the Commissioner For Youths and Sports, Daniel Igali while ccommending the NCDMB for the massive opportunities Bayelsa youths, implore them to take advantage of the opportunities to better their lives.
‘’The state government is working to ensure that youths from Bayelsa State compete favourable and do better than their counterparts anywhere else in the country. As a government we have initiated and brought about a lot of youth development programmes and today I want to urge all of you to not only sit down and listen but to participate beautiful what we have observed over time is that we come in here take part in the programme and we don’t actually make use of what we learn.
In his remarks, the NCDMB Executive Secretary, represented by the General Manager Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, Mrs Angela Okoro, who noted that training programmes is one of the activities used by the board to build capacity encouraged the youths to key into the training programmes.
Okoro explained that NCDMB led by Simbi Wabote has drawn a ten-year plan to ensure that certain milestones are achieved with focus on how to reduce capital flight.
‘’One of the activities of the board is to build the capacity of all Nigerians laying emphasis on host communities of all the oil and gas companies. Not only that. NCDMB also monitors the activities of these companies and ensures that whatever is done by them adheres to the content development plan.
“One of the critical things we wanted to do was to ensure a reduced capital flight as much as possible. As of now, it is about 52 %. When we started it was very low and it is a plus to the Board and country because all the money that would ordinarily have gone out have been brought in to be used for the development of the country.
“We also want to hear from you how you can also contribute to not just to the board alone helping to build your capacity but how can you also help the board to achieve what the board has set out to achieve to reduce capital flight.”