The outstanding
performance by Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote as the Executive Secretary of the
Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is set to be recognized
and celebrated again as he has been nominated for the “Distinguished Capacity
Development Award” at the forthcoming Nigeria Excellence in Public Service
Awards, to be conferred by President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR).
According to a letter signed by Dr.
Nnamdi Maurice Mbaeri, Permanent Secretary, General Services Office of the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the award will be bestowed on
Engr. Wabote and other deserving Nigerians in different categories at a
ceremony scheduled for the State House Conference Centre, Abuja on October 21.
According to
feelers from the Presidency, the Executive Secretary is getting the award for
the outstanding strides he accomplished, particularly in human and
infrastructural capacity development since he was appointed as the helmsman of
NCDMB in September 2016 and got reappointed in 2020.
The
accomplishments are in furtherance of the mandate of NCDMB, as enshrined in the
Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. They include
providing capacity-building opportunities for over 13,000 Nigerians in various
skill areas resulting in over 12 million training man hours and championing the
construction and commissioning of NCDMB 17-Storey Headquarters with a 1000-seater
conference auditorium and multi-level car park in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The
edifice was constructed in five years by an indigenous contractor and provided
opportunities for artisanal skills development and capacity-building for
Nigerians as well as creating over 250 employment positions for the host
community.
Other
notable achievements recorded by Wabote in the past six years include the
successful partnership with Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company
Limited to develop and commission a 5000 barrels per day (bpd) modular refinery
in Ibigwe, Imo State, and investments in modular refineries like Azikel
Group12,000 bpd hydro-skimming modular refinery in Polaku, Bayelsa State;
Atlantic International Refinery’s 2000 barrels plant in Brass, Bayelsa State,
and Duport Midstream’s 2,500bpd modular refinery in Edo State. These
investments created over 3000 jobs in the refining value chain and ensured
value addition to Nigeria’s crude oil, grew our domestic refining capacity and
curbed pipeline vandalism.
The
successes in capacity development also extend to the construction of two oil
and gas parks in Bayelsa and Cross River States – designed to spur the
manufacturing of critical oil and gas equipment, tools and spare parts in
Nigeria. The parks are due for completion in Q1 2023 and would create over 2000
jobs each.
He also
championed the construction and donation of an ultra-modern vocational school
to the University of Ibadan and renovated and equipped the Government Technical
College Abak, Akwa Ibom and Technical College Amoli, Awgu Local Government
Area, Enugu State.
The
Executive Secretary also championed the donation of over 35 ICT centres and
science laboratories to secondary schools across the country to enhance the
quality of Information, Communication Technology (ICT) and Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
Under his
leadership, NCDMB grew the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund to a US$500m Fund
and disbursed it effectively as credit to Nigerian oil and gas service companies
and community contractors, with single-digit interest. This enabled local oil
and gas service companies to build human and technical capacities to provide
hi-tech services in the oil and gas industry, compete effectively with their
international counterpart and create thousands of jobs for Nigerians.
Other
standout achievements include the partnership with investors to catalyze
critical projects in the gas value-chain, in line with President Muhammadu
Buhari’s declaration of the year 2021 – 2030 as Nigeria’s Decade of Gas. Some
of the NCDMB’s third party investments under his leadership include LPG
Composite cylinders manufacturing facilities; Gas Processing Plants; Gas
Gathering hub and LPG Storage and Loading Terminal Facilities. The Board is
also partnering with investors to establish gas processing plants, Inland LPG
terminal and Smart Gas/Smoke Detector Alarm devices and a Base Oil Production
plant.
Prior to
this award, the Executive Secretary has been conferred with several
international and national awards, including a global award conferred by the
organizers of African Oil Week (AOW) in November 2018 for his outstanding
contributions to sustainable local content development in Nigeria and across
the African oil and gas industry.
He was also
honoured in August 2019 as the Transformational Business Leader in Public
Sector by the Business Leadership Awards, organized by the BusinessDay
Newspapers and bagged the Local Content Development Achievement Award from the
Oil and Gas Trainers Association (OGTAN) in April 2018 in recognition of the
remarkable achievements he led the Board to record in less than two years of
his assumption of duty.
He was equally recognized as the Regulator of the Year at the 2021 Vanguard Personality of the Year Award and received the African Local Content Icon Award by the 2021 African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA) organized by the African Leadership Magazine.