Protesting Youths Groups
Concerned stakeholders in the Oil and Gas industry have demanded for the relocation of the headquarters Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State to a location where life of operators and employees coming for processing of Nigerian Content approvals would be guaranteed.
They stated that the incessant disturbances by youths at the Board’s office and unrelenting threats by several groups should encourage the Federal Government to consider moving the Board’s office just like the Department of Petroleum Resources which recently moved its headquarters office from Lagos to Abuja.
The relocation bid is being championed by a group of Concerned Indigenous Service Companies who are worried about the huge impact of insecurity and frequents protests on the operations of the NCDMB as well as on the cost of Nigeria’s crude Oil production at a time that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is leading campaign for production cost to be reduced below $20 per barrel.
The stakeholders expressed worries that the protests and blockade at the Board’s 17-storey office- the second time in one year by different youth groups over frivolous reasons had created serious doubts over sustainable operations of the NCDMB in Bayelsa State and the risk of important oil and gas operators being held hostage and harmed by youths of the state.
The call for the Board’s relocation is coming on the heels of the recent protest and blockade of the Nigerian Content Tower for the last three days by hundreds of protesters who shut down activities at the headquarters of the NCDMB and held staff and visitors hostage.
The aggrieved youths who were described themselves as members of Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, HOSTCOM, rejected the offer by the Board to train one hundred youths in critical skills areas in the industry, insisting that the Board must train1000 youths from over 850 communities.
The indignant protesters barricaded the primary entrance to the NCDMB office and erected a tent for three days, blocking the two-lane access road to the office, stopping guests and staff from gaining entrance and leaving the premises.
Our correspondent observed that the management of the Board held desperate meetings with leaders of the youth groups and explained that its approved budget for the year could only accommodate a given number of the youths, but the demonstrators remained adamant, insisting that their demands must be met by the Board and claiming that the Board was toying with an approval that was already secured in 2019. A source also claimed that the youths refused to participate in aptitude tests that would be used to select the candidates for the training.
Managing Director of Standard Chemicals Limited Chiejina Andrew who beared his mind in the recent development, deplored the incessant protests by youths against the NCDMB, noting that Oil and Gas companies would no longer feel comfortable visiting the Board to transact important businesses.
He said it was high time the Federal Government considered relocating the Board’s operations since the continued smooth operations in the state can no longer be guaranteed.
The MD wondered how the directive by the Senate for Oil companies to relocate their headquarters to host communities would be possible when youth groups can throw caution to the winds and disrupt the operations of NCDMB that has initiated countless infrastructural developments and capacity building programmes in Bayelsa State which had created thousands of employment opportunities. “We are fed up with incessant protests by Bayelsa host communities and other faceless groups disrupting activities at the headquarters of NCDMB”, he lamented.
Chiejina advised the state government and traditional rulers to checkmate activities of fraudsters leading protests against NCDMB operation in Yenagoa.
According to him, Bayelsa is enjoying a boom in economic activities and regular inflow of visitors coming to secure Nigerian Content approval for their projects. “If the host communities disruption is sustained and resulting to relocation of NCDMB from Bayelsa, what will happen to all the hotels depending on NCDMB visitors to survive?, he argued. A Staff of an International Oil Company who preferred to speak as anonymous complaint bitterly about the harassment of protesting host communities at NCDMB.
He suggested immediate relocation of NCDMB to safeguard life of oil workers and investors. “If the Federal government is truly caring for oil and gas stakeholders, the National Assembly will not wait for the death of NCDMB Staff or contractor before granting approval for NCDMB relocation to a peaceful location”, he noted.
