Wabote’e reappointment key enabler to 70% local content target-P100 companies say

Indigenous oil and gas service companies under the aegis of Project 100 have applauded the renewal of the appointment of Engr. Simbi Wabote as the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) describing the reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari as a positive development for the oil and gas sector.
The announcement of the renewal of the appointment was made on Friday, September 25, 2020 and the renewal followed recommendations to the President by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Syla.
The Project 100 beneficiary companies in a statement thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and Chief Timipre Sylva for rewarding the outstanding performance of Engr. Wabote in the last four years as Executive Secretary of the NCDMB adding that the appointment renewal did not come as a surprise to the Project 100 companies.
The statement signed by the Chairperson of the Project 100 Executive Committee, Mrs. Funmi Ogbue stated that the NCDMB boss, beyond managing the NCDMB and completing its headquarters building, also recorded several landmark achievements that attracted local and international commendation.
Mrs. Ogbue who is also the Managing Director of Zigma Ltd (a Project 100 company) said: “We are glad that he will be around to complete several innovative initiatives and projects he had started with a view to driving local content in Nigeria’s oil sector beyond the current 30 per cent level.”
She said: “The NCDMB in the last four years under the leadership of Wabote, has morphed into an indispensable enabler of local capacity in the oil and gas industry as demonstrated in his determination to empower Nigerian companies in the sector through Project 100.”

It will be recalled that Engr. Wabote in 2017 midwifed Project 100 initiative of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, by identifying 100 oil and gas start-ups and deploying special institutional interventions for their incubation, maturation and growth into world class service companies.
These special interventions for Project 100 companies, include access to capacity building, funding and access to market.
Sixty indigenous oil service companies currently make up the P100 beneficiaries with capacity in six core service areas and more than 200 technical service offerings.
Today, these sixty companies that are currently Project 100 beneficiary including Zigma Ltd, contribute over N50 billion to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as account for 1,500 direct and 15,000 indirect employees in the oil sector.
Continuing, Mrs. Ogbue said “We are also happy to have him around to fully execute the Nigerian Content 10-Year Strategic Road Map, a roadmap he introduced, which delineates the activity schedule, new milestones towards increasing Nigerian Content performance from 28 percent to 70 percent by 2027. This will result in the creation of 300, 000 jobs and retain $14bn in-country out of the $20bn annual industry spends.”
She called on the NCDMB boss to see his reappointment as not just a reward for his hard work but as a call to further service and for him to justify the confidence reposed on him by the President and Nigerians.