NCDMB official unveils book on local content devt

Media and Publicity Manager at the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Obinna Ezeobi, has authored a book on local content development in the energy sector.

As stakeholders in the Nigerian oil and gas industry gear up to mark 15 years of the enactment and implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, Ezeobi’s book captures some of the thrills and highlights of the local content policy.

Titled ’Nigeria’s Local Content: A Journey of Strategic Communication and Economic Transformation’ and written by Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, the book provides a detailed account of how deft communication initiatives, skilful stakeholder management strategies and effective collaboration among key players in the oil sector played pivotal roles in propagating and advancing Nigeria’s local content policy, making it a national agenda, and influencing several countries across the African continent.

Written in fast-paced and easy-to-access vocabularies, Ezeobi said the book was endorsed by notable personalities in the Nigerian and African energy sector, including the pioneer Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Dr Ernest Nwapa; the Secretary-General of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation, Dr Omar Farouk; and the Chairman of Oildata Group and former Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, Engr Emeka Ene.

Receiving a copy of the book on Monday, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr Felix Ogbe, commended the author for his efforts in documenting and projecting the local content story.

Ezeobi told our correspondent that the book has 267 pages, split into five parts, with each section focusing on different but related themes such as the evolution of the oil and gas industry and local content, as well as contemporary issues like the impact of oil companies’ divestments and presidential directives on local content development.

Giving reasons for writing the book, Ezeobi explained that the Nigerian Content Act is one of the most impactful and transformational pieces of legislation since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, principally because of how NCDMB and its key partners deployed public communication and stakeholders’ management initiatives in the implementation process.

He added that he was inspired to document and tell the remarkable local content story from the perspective of communication and stakeholder management, having played key roles in conceptualising and implementing the impactful strategies since the agency’s inception in 2010.