Manager, Corporate Communications at the Nigeria Content Development Monitoring Board, NCDMB Esueme Dan Kikile, has stressed the need to continually build media capacity to enable factual and truthful reports. Kikile said this during an interview with newsmen, at the side-lines of a one day capacity building workshop for media stakeholders, organised by the oil and gas sector regulatory body in Port Harcourt.
Kikile said factual and truthful reports is in the best interest of the country. He used the medium to highlight the board’s strategic ten years roadmap, targeted to be accomplished in 2027. He said the roadmap designed by the board is hinged on key deliverables, targeted to move Nigeria Content performance 20 percent to 70 percent
According to the corporate communications manager, “It’s simply for us to ensure that we retain 80 percent of the expenditure in the industry in this country, in Nigeria. As we speak, we are at 54 per cent. “That means we have retained 54 dollars or 54 naira of every 100 naira that is spent by the oil and gas industry in this country”
He added that, “The second target is for us to be able to ensure that there are key fabrication centers in Nigeria. As we speak, we have surpassed that target. Our plan was to be able to meet over a 100,000 metric tons fabrication in the country, we have 260,000 metric tons capacity in the country. So, we have exceeded the plan that we had put in place. There is excess capacity in terms of fabrication. Some of our companies in Nigeria are now working outside Nigeria in the West African sub region”.
Adding that, ”The third one is to ensure that in terms of human capacity, we have Nigerians who have the ability to sit on leadership positions in the entire oil and gas industry value chain.”
Similarly, Kikile spoke about the Nigeria Content Development Fund, that is earmarked to facilitate research and development.
He said the fund which is in the tune of $500m dollars (500 million dollars), is segmented in different packages, and $50m dollars is set aside for researchers and institutions.
He said the Bank of Industry (BOI) is in custody of the fund and that the board, is actively working to ensure that the right mechanisms are put in place for the fund to be accessed and adequately utilized.
“What we have done with research and development, we have been able to set up five research centers of excellence in five different universities across the country ( FUTA, FUTO, UI, etc). We have done it to ensure we have key research centers dealing with thematic areas by each of these institutions. Secondly, we have also deployed some part of our research fund that is not part of that fifty million dollars, to support two activities. We are supporting Sole power, in terms of remediation and we have supported Amal Technology. We are commissioning the factory in Abuja, as a leak detection facility, that was borne out of our support for research and development. We are still working out mechanisms to be able to disburse that fifty million dollars.”
The capacity building workshop for media professionals had as its theme, “The Role of the Media in Sustaining Nigerian Content Legacies”, the workshop was graced with insightful lecture presentation by seasoned experts. Experts who facilitated the lectures spoke on vital topics that will enhance the capability of media professionals to adequately carry out their work.
One of the facilitators Dr. Austin Tam-George, a communication and public policy consultant with a Doctorate from the university of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Tam-George is also the executive director Institute of Communication and Corporate Studies, Lagos State. Currently, he is admitted as a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, an opt-in research community of business professionals.
While presenting the lecture, he called on the NCDMB to identify the appropriate and adequate media channel and target audience to disseminate their reports. Adding that while the board is predominantly concerned with local content on oil and gas, their audience is the larger public.
He also advised the NCDMB to compose an audience matrix, establish a feedback mechanism, develop information subsidy. Also, eliminate dissonance in corporate storytelling. He said corporate storytelling is a way of obligating the way companies operate. It is the act of using stories to project an organization ground value, their corporate mission are projected through story telling. On his part, Dr. Vernon Myers, another facilitator at the media capacity building workshop, a Senior Executive Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Dr. Myers delivered his presentation via zoom and the topic was, “Innovation and Leadership in Media Practice”. He advised reporters to always double check their stories before putting out in the public domain, and encouraged participants to improve on their creativity in reportage; to be creative with AI and big data, to upgrade and harness modern ways in reporting their stories.
“We should keep up cultivating our creativity to influence and inspire our audience. The only thing that will separate us from others is our ability to be creative. How do we come up with ideas of content as media. Some challenges of the traditional media is the disruption by the social media, this has influenced the ways people consume information.
“As a media, you want to know how people get your information. As media, we should make sure we are putting out real information for reliability. Creativity is one thing that will separate us from other technology in the future,” he advised.
Myers called on the Nigeria government to initiate policies that will regulate social media. According to him, social media platforms can be the initiator of violence, as anyone beside a media professional, has access to social media platforms and can publish unverified information which can spark violence.
He further called for the institution of a strong judicial system in Nigeria. He said with a strong judicial system so copyrights can be protected as foreign investors can only come in to do business in Nigeria when creative works are protected legally.
He encouraged media professionals at the workshop to embrace opportunities in the media and entertainment industry. “Nigeria has one of the youngest population in the world, grab this opportunities and attract German, American, Japanese companies.”
On his part, Omemehin Ajimijaye, the general manager Research, Statistics and Development, NCDMB, presented a paper on “Research and Development as Pathway for Deepening Nigeria Content Implementation “ he said NCDMB is executing its mandate based on the NOGIC act of 2010, the oil and gas industry content.
He said the Act geared towards facilitating activities that will develop local content, via the R and D implementation framework.
“Section 106 of the NOGIC Act states that Nigeria Content means a quantum of composite values added or created in the Nigeria economy by a systematic development of capacity or capability through the deliberate human material resources and services in the Nigeria oil and gas industry, that way we are able to build Nigeria content.”
