By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has launched the LearnFest Lecture Series, a platform designed to promote continuous learning among its staff and oil and gas industry stakeholders.

The initiative, under the Nigerian Content Academy (NCA), the Board’s specialised knowledge-sharing and training arm, is aimed at deepening understanding of the NCDMB’s mandate, processes and operations.

The inaugural three-hour session, held at the Board’s corporate headquarters in Yenagoa, was attended by staff and focused on the various directorates of the organisation, their divisions and departments, as well as their respective responsibilities and how they work together to achieve corporate objectives.

In a promotional video, the Academy explained that the NCDMB’s knowledge base is spread across seven directorates, each with its own mandate, processes, expertise, responsibilities and approach to value creation.

It said LearnFest was designed to ensure that knowledge did not remain within individual departments but flowed across the organisation to promote collaboration and synergy.

According to the Academy, the initiative would help staff understand “how everything fits together” and gain a broader understanding of the Board’s mandate, institutional processes, practices, culture and relationships.

“When we understand what others do, we collaborate better, support one another better, and work as one integrated ecosystem,” it said.

In his opening remarks, Director of the Capacity Building Directorate, Engr. Abayomi Bamidele, said the LearnFest Lecture Series was introduced to promote a clear understanding of Nigerian Content tools and processes among NCDMB staff and other oil and gas industry stakeholders.

He said industry players needed to understand and properly interpret the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, 2010, as well as operational principles contained in the NCDMB Guideline for Nigerian Content Human Capital Development Implementation Strategy.

He also listed the Nigerian Content Compliance Certificate (NCCC), Nigerian Content Plan (NCP), statutory reporting and expatriate quota requirements among areas requiring greater understanding by industry stakeholders.

“LearnFest will make our work easier,” Bamidele said.

He disclosed that industry operators, service companies, industry associations such as the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN), academic institutions and ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) had expressed interest in sending their staff to the Academy for specialised training.

Bamidele said the NCA was also building a faculty, adding that the Lecture Series would help prepare the ground for its establishment.

“The people presenting (the lectures) could form part of our faculty,” he said, adding that participants would provide feedback on the suitability of the resource persons for the roles.

He further announced that NCDMB management had approved the use of the Board’s purpose-built facility in Opolo, along the Opolo-Elebele Road in Yenagoa, as a centre for NCA training programmes.

The first lecture was delivered by Engr. Mofe Megbele, Manager of the Planning and Policy Development Department, on “Understanding the Activities and Processes of the Planning, Research and Statistics Directorate.”

His presentation covered the Operating Framework for Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS), an overview of the Planning and Policy Development Department (PPD), expatriate quota, inter-directorate and division relations, the Research and Development Programme, technology commercialisation and innovation, research and development infrastructure, NOGIC JQS/NOGIC JQS User Communication, NCCF objectives, e-Marketplace and stakeholder engagement.

Megbele explained that the Directorate comprised two major divisions — the Planning and Policy Development Department and the Research and Statistics Development Division — both headed by general managers.

He said the PPD was established in September 2018 under Section 70 of the NOGICD Act and was responsible for developing policies and guidelines for internal and external stakeholders, as well as monitoring their implementation.

The LearnFest Lecture Series is scheduled to hold monthly for the next nine months, with a different directorate featured in each edition.

Attendance, both online and in person, is mandatory for all NCDMB staff, while other oil and gas industry stakeholders may participate in subsequent editions.