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NCDMB to establish research centres in four Nigerian Universities

 

L-R: Dr. Ginah O. Ginah, GM Corporate Communications, NCDMB; Mrs Anna Akpan, Asst. Director Shipping Development NIMASA, and Mr. Anya Njoku, MARAN President at a sensitization seminar on local content development in the shipping, oil and gas logistics operations, in Apapa

The
Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has made known its
plans to establish four research centres in Nigeria with focus on oil and gas development.

Dr.
Ginah Ginah, the General Manager, Corporate Communications and Coordination of
NCDMB, disclosed this at a sensitization seminar organized by the Maritime
Reporters Association of Nigeria(MARAN) on local content development in
shipping, oil and gas logistics operations.  

The
research centres according to Dr. Ginah, will be located in the Federal University
of Technology Owerri, Federal University of Technology Minna, Federal
University of Technology Akure and one in the Niger Delta University in Bayelsa
State.
Ginah
said that the initiative was informed by the need to locally develop solutions
in the oil and gas sector, which demands very specialized research, a gap he
said the Nigerian university system had not been able to fill.

“Research
in the Oil and Gas industry is a specialist matter, and seeing the drawbacks in
the present university system, we have decided to put these research centres in
the premises of those universities.

“They
are going to be opened to every Nigerian. Once you let your intention known to
us, you have free access to go and do your work, be you a student, a research
fellow or a company that is interested in research.

“We
feel that that way, the centres will be more focused on the job of the oil and
gas industry. Because we are in a hurry, we cannot continue trying to do
research forever. We want to start doing the research,” he said.

Ginah
noted that with speculations of the crude oil being replaced with new sources of
energy in about 20 years from now, it was best to begin to carryout research for
new developments.

“…we
are saying in about another 20 years oil will no longer be the relevant earner
of foreign exchange, so we cannot dwell there for very long.

“The
best option is, take as much benefit as can be taken from the oil  and use it to cross over to other industries.
That is why the diversification issue should be very paramount in Nigeria.

“We
are supposed to be harvesting from the oil now and plow it into other areas, so
that by the time the oil finishes we have become giants in other sectors of the
economy,” Ginah said.

He
added that while the NCDMB was still in discussion with the National Universities
Commission (NUC) on the programme, it also enjoined operators in the oil and gas
industry to adopt a faculty in any Nigerian University.

He,
however, noted that “Most of these IOCs have universities where they have
adopted faculties and supporting them with equipment and finance.

“That
is an interim initiative until these research centres are ready, when we will
then switch and intensify our research.

“Beyond
this, we have already told the industry that any issue concerning research in
operations or other areas, that they should challenge the Nigerian universities
first before thinking of taking such a problem outside the country.  That is also a step to domiciling research
in-country.”

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