By Suleiman Aremu | Solaremnews | Friday 25, September, 2026
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has inaugurated its LearnFest Lecture Series, a new platform designed to promote continuous learning, knowledge-sharing and capacity development among its staff and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.
The initiative, inaugurated on Thursday, September 25, 2026, is part of the Board’s efforts to strengthen the capacity of its personnel to effectively lead and regulate the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
According to a statement signed by the General Manager, Corporate Communications Division of the NCDMB, Obinna Ezeobi, PhD, LearnFest is an initiative of the Nigerian Content Academy (NCA), the specialised knowledge-sharing and training arm of the Board.
It is designed to provide structured training on the mandate, operations and internal processes of the NCDMB.
The inaugural three-hour session, attended by all staff at the Board’s corporate headquarters in Yenagoa, focused on improving understanding of the various directorates within the organisation, their constituent divisions and departments, their specific responsibilities, as well as how they function individually and collectively to achieve the Board’s corporate goals and objectives.
According to the Academy, the NCDMB’s institutional knowledge is distributed across seven directorates, each with its own mandate, processes, expertise, responsibilities and methods of creating value.
A promotional video presented during the event explained that such knowledge becomes more effective when it does not remain in isolated organisational silos but moves across departments through collaboration among different units.
The Academy said LearnFest was established to help staff understand “how everything fits together” by providing a broader picture of the NCDMB’s mandate, institutional processes, practices, culture and working relationships.
It added that a better understanding of the functions of other departments would enable staff to collaborate more effectively, support one another and operate as an integrated organisational ecosystem.
Speaking during the opening of the programme, the Director, Capacity Building Directorate, Engr. Abayomi Bamidele, said the LearnFest Lecture Series was introduced to create greater understanding of Nigerian Content tools and processes among NCDMB personnel and other stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.
He stressed the importance of ensuring that industry players understand and correctly interpret the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, 2010, as well as the operational principles contained in the NCDMB Guideline for Nigerian Content Human Capital Development Implementation Strategy.
Bamidele also identified the Nigerian Content Compliance Certificate (NCCC), Nigerian Content Plan (NCP), statutory reporting requirements and matters relating to expatriate quota as areas in which industry stakeholders require adequate knowledge and understanding.
According to him, the knowledge and skills acquired through LearnFest would ultimately make the work of the Board and industry operators easier.
The Director disclosed that industry operators and service companies, industry associations such as the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN), academic institutions, as well as ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), had already written to the Nigerian Content Academy expressing interest in sending their personnel for specialised training.
He further disclosed that the Academy was currently building a faculty, describing the LearnFest Lecture Series as part of the preparations for the commencement of the NCA’s full training programmes.
Bamidele explained that some of the resource persons delivering lectures under the series could eventually become members of the Academy’s faculty. He added that participants would be expected to provide feedback on the suitability of the presenters as potential faculty members.
He also announced that the management of the NCDMB had approved the use of the Board’s purpose-built facility in Opolo, along the Opolo-Elebele Road in Yenagoa, as a training centre for programmes to be organised by the Nigerian Content Academy.
The first presentation of the LearnFest series was delivered by the Manager, Planning and Policy Development Department, Engr. Mofe Megbele, on the theme, “Understanding the Activities and Processes of the Planning, Research and Statistics Directorate.”
The presentation covered several areas, including the operating framework for Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS), an overview of the Planning and Policy Development Department (PPD), expatriate quota, inter-directorate and division relations, research and development programmes, technology commercialisation and innovation, research and development infrastructure, NOGIC JQS and user communication, Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF) objectives, as well as the NCDMB e-Marketplace and stakeholder engagement.
Megbele explained that the Planning, Research and Statistics Directorate comprised two major divisions: the Planning and Policy Development Division and the Research and Statistics Development Division, both headed by General Managers.
He said the Planning and Policy Development Department was established in September 2018 pursuant to Section 70 of the NOGICD Act and is responsible for developing policies and guidelines for internal and external stakeholders, as well as monitoring their implementation.
The LearnFest Lecture Series is scheduled to hold monthly over the next nine months, with a specific directorate of the NCDMB to be featured at each edition.
Attendance, whether online or in person, is mandatory for all NCDMB staff, while other stakeholders in the oil and gas industry will be able to participate in subsequent editions.
The Board said the initiative is expected to strengthen institutional knowledge, improve inter-directorate collaboration and deepen stakeholders’ understanding of the processes and regulatory framework underpinning Nigerian Content development in the oil and gas industry.
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