𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑫𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑩𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅 (𝑵𝑪𝑫𝑴𝑩) 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝑳𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑮𝒂𝒔 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒚 (𝑵𝑳𝑵𝑮) 𝑳𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇-𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. At a one-day meeting of the NCDMB/NLNG Technical Working Group held at the Nigerian Content Tower (NCT), corporate headquarters of the NCDMB recently.

At the event,  key personnel of the two organisations led by Engr. Paul Zuhumben, General Manager, Project Certification and Authorisation Division (PCAD), NCDMB, and Mr. Andy Odeh, General Manager, External Relations, NLNG, expressed satisfaction with the grounds covered in the implementation of action plans. Deliberations centred around measures to secure approval of in-house operational blueprint, Energy Transition, Advanced Training, Executive Summary Report on NLNG Train-7, and update on capacity building. It was noted that “most activities are on-going.”

Related subjects dealt at the meeting include Development of NCDMB’s Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Joint Qualification System E-Marketplace Module, NLNG Asset Human Capacity Development Implementation, NLNG Train-7 HCD and R&D Execution Update, Monitoring of LNG Contracts below US$1 million, NLNG-NCDMB Service Level Agreements Performance Review, Factors Affecting Commercial Evaluation Delays, Energy Transition Workshop, and Expatriate Quota. The TWG emphasised the critical importance of stakeholder surveys and committed to ensuring prompt attention to matters raised for consideration. A Stakeholders Retreat was agreed upon to facilitate knowledge-sharing interactions.

Scheduled to hold within the last quarter of 2023 on Bonny Island, the Retreat would include community and plant tour, sessions on Nigerian Content practices, and a golf competition. The Technical Working Group, conceived by the Managements of both companies to facilitate “in-person discussion and resolution of strategic, tactical and operational issues, aims to

“cut out bureaucracy and improve efficiency of decision-making, approvals, and Nigerian Content Development for NLNG. It acts as first level discussion and escalation group to review and unblock thorny issues or delays arising from Nigerian Content compliance on contracts and projects that have been unable to reach satisfactory resolution at the operational/officer level, among other things.

 Earlier in his opening remarks, the Chairman of the Group, Engr. Paul Zuhumben, commended NLNG for clinching the Nigerian Content Contribution Award and its invaluable contribution toward the E-marketplace initiative. At the end of the Meeting, NLNG’s External Relations General Manager Andy Odeh declared that deliberations were very successful.

According to him, the Group meets “to look at issues that border around enabling the business where there are challenges, so that those issues don’t become crises that begin to distort the business we do in NLNG: It could be NLNG is not giving enough information as it should or it could be that NCDMB is not moving as fast as they should, either with approvals or proposals that we have.

” Explaining further, he said, “We see ourselves as one because we are looking at a common goal, and the TWG Meeting helps us to be proactive in managing the things we manage either as a company, NLNG, or as an operator.” The next meeting of the TWG is scheduled tentatively for February 2024 in Port Harcourt.