Bayelsa state governor, Douye Diri has stressed the determination of his administration to utilise local content in setting up structures that would be beneficial for business and provide the enabling environment for successful operations in the oil and gas sector.
In his opening remarks at the 10th Annual Practical Nigerian Content Forum which held at NCDMB Conference Centre , Nigeria Content Tower, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state on Tuesday November 30, 2021, the governor said Bayelsa would eagerly work with interested parties to create the conditions desirable to continue to provide the enabling environment for successful operations particularly in the oil and gas sector.
‘’Essentially, local content is about securing direct and indirect opportunities for employment and procurement to home grown companies, while at the same time, fostering the development of local skills, technology transfer, and use of local manpower and local manufacturing in capital projects.
‘’We need to re-engage and build trust across all fronts. If Local Content must lead to Local Contentment, we must be deliberate in promoting its raison d’être (objectives). Which without polemics, should be about creating the key conditions that will allow Nigerians to acquire sufficient skills and be architects of their own fortunes and those of their communities,’’ he said
The governor said the theme of the Forum, “Driving Nigerian Content in the New Dawn of the Petroleum Industry Act,” aptly aligned with the aspirations of Bayelsa people which focused on
increased profit of the oil and gas industry.
Diri while noting that the venue of the Forum was designed and constructed by an indigenous architectural firm, commended the leadership of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for promoting the usage of local content for a decade .
‘’If Local Content must lead to local Contentment, we must consider a conundrum that is captured, in a question posed in Psalm 11 and verse 3: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The strength of a building lies in its foundation. The main purpose of the foundation is to hold the structure above it and keep it upright.
‘’Bayelsa State is establishing top quality Vocational, Science and Technical Colleges, in all our local government areas. We will strategically invest heavily in the requisite equipment and staff, in order to produce manpower, who can confidently fit into the most demanding roles in the nation’s oil and gas sector, ‘’ he said.
Diri advised stakeholders at the Forum to ‘’come up with innovative ideas on how to bring Local Contentment to Local Content. Because we know that if we do that, we will deliver benefits not just here in Bayelsa State, but to the country as a whole, for many more years and decades to come’’.