From Uche Usim, Abuja
The immediate past Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, has revealed that in-country fabrication capacity has moved from 60,000tons per year to 250,000 tons/year.
He made the disclosure at the just-concluded 12th Practical Nigerian Content Forum in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State themed: ‘Deepening Nigerian Content Amidst Divestments, Domestication and Decarbonisation’.
He said the boost in fabrication capacity follows the careful execution of the Board’s 10-year strategic roadmap.
Wabote further revealed that NCDMB has transformed two of its Oil and Gas Parks Scheme (NOGAPS) sites from bare land to industrial parks to support in-country manufacturing and assembly of equipment and input materials required for exploration and production activities.
“While these two NOGAPS sites are essentially ready for commissioning, we are keen to operationalize it by having manufacturing activities in place which are scheduled for the first half of next year”, he added.
Wabote further disclosed that 37 applications have so far been received for allocation of service plots or shop floors, adding that the process of allocation of serviced plots to manufacturers was in top gear.
“So far, service plots/ shop floors have been allocated to six companies. At the moment, we have reached an advanced stage in our review of the Business Plans of intending tenants and another batch of allocations will soon be made.
“Under the strategic roadmap, we set up a dedicated $50 million fund to co-finance industry research and development activities.
The Research and Development Fund led to the development of Amal Tech Smoke Alarm Detector Facility that we will commission next week in Abuja.
“Our ICT Intervention programs in secondary schools in promotion of STEM education remain very popular and in high demand with over 100 ICT and Science Labs completed to date. The teachers are not left out with almost 2,000 of teachers trained on STEM Education and use of K-YAN Device.
“Under the roadmap, we have trained over 7,000 youths in Bayelsa, Kano, Kaduna, Cross River, and Yobe states on GSM hardware repairs and software development.
“We created Centers of Excellence for research and development in six Nigerian Universities as well as created the Technology Incubation and Innovation Center to incubate innovative ideas/startups.
“On Human Capacity Development, we identified existing technical/vocational or craft centers and carried out intervention programs to strengthen the institutions such as Government Technical College in Abak, Akwa Ibom State, GTC Port Harcourt, GTC Amoli, University of Ibadan, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University, University of Lagos, Nigerian Maritime University, and many others”, he revealed.