NCDMB incorporating Nigeria First Policy to boost implementation – Ogbe

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), says it is incorporating the ‘Nigeria First Policy’ into its internal processes and systems to ensure it translates from paper to tangible progress.

Mr Felix Ogbe, Executive Secretary, NCDMB said this on Monday in Abuja at the Nigerian Content Seminar, hosted by the board at the 24th Edition of the Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week 2025.

The Nigerian Content Seminar is themed, “Achieving Energy Sufficiency through Local Content Implementation’’.

Supreme news reports that the “Nigeria First Policy” is the most recent policy of the Federal Government, aimed at deepening local content.

The Back-To-The-Creek Programme of the Board aligns with the “Nigeria First policy” as it is an initiative that seeks to develop the human capital of the creeks towards developing a pool of workforce for Nigerian industries.

Ogbe described the policy as a bold commitment to build national pride, industrial competence, and sustainable economic growth by putting Nigerian-made products and services first.

“To ensure this policy translates from paper to tangible progress, the Board is already taking some steps.

“First, we are developing a Nigeria First Procurement policy for the Board. The Board is incorporating the Nigeria First policy into our internal processes and systems.

“The policy will be considered for reviewing and approving Nigeria Content Plans, Nigeria Content Compliance Certifications and so on, ” he said.

He said the Federal Government had taken bold steps to deepen Nigerian content to ensure energy sufficiency, starting with the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010 which had been operational for 15 years.

He said several Executive Orders, such as Executive Order 001 Ease of Doing Business and Executive Order 005 Giving Preferences to Nigerian companies and firms for procurement contract awards had been issued too.

He recalled that the Federal Government issued the Presidential Directives on Local Content Requirements and the Board had developed and issued Guidelines to implement the directives.

“At the heart of this administration’s agenda is a deliberate and strategic push to reclaim our economic independence by harnessing our local capacity.

“The Nigeria First Policy represents this vision.

“It is rooted in a simple but powerful principle that “All goods or services that are produced and/or available locally will not be procured from foreign sources unless there is a clear and justifiable reason.

“This principle is in line with Section 3 (1) of the NOGICD Act which states that first consideration must be given to Nigerian goods and services.

“Let me add that such goods and services must meet the required industry standards,” he said.

The NCDMB boss said the Board would commission a Baseline Study to ascertain and verify the available capacity of Nigerian service providers, and also commission a Baseline Study of the consumables and other goods, used in the industry.

The study, he said would identify Nigerian companies that could produce the goods and confirm their capacities.

He also said The Back-To-The-Creek Programme of the Board aligned with the Eight-Point Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, and sought to achieve Economic Growth and create jobs by focusing on vocational skills, ICT and STEM education of students and youths in the creeks.

He said the initiative, aimed at developing digitisation of schools syllabus in the Creeks, focused on developing vocational skills among youths in primary and secondary schools, while providing scholarship opportunities for gifted students.

The 2025 NOG Energy Week, themed “Accelerating Global Energy Progress through Investment, Partnerships, and Innovation,” will be officially declared open on Tuesday.