The Senate Committee on Local
Content has queried the management of the Nigerian Content Development and
Monitoring Board (NCDMB) over $400 million in intervention funds said to have
been kept in banks and other financial institutions for over many years without
disbursement.
The Chairman of the Committee,
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan asked the NCDMB to explain the development
during an interactive session with the agency on Wednesday evening in Abuja.
According to Akpoti-Uduaghan, out
of the said intervention funds, $30 million was earmarked for capacity building
in oil and gas while $20 million was meant for women in oil and gas in the
country.
She another $50 million of the
fund was meant for research and development in oil and gas industries which is
said to be domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
She sought to know why the funds
were lying fallow without Nigerians being allowed to access them.
She also urged the NCDMB to make
the funding opportunities accessible to ordinary Nigerians.
These funds, according to her,
will attract oil and gas equipment manufacturers to Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks
Scheme (NOGaPS) facilities, as well as increase access to affordable finance by
the manufacturing entities.
She asked the board create
awareness among Nigerians who are not aware of the availability of the fund how
they can access it.
She directed the NCDMB to
urgently submit the audited account of the agency from 2021 to 2022, the budget
performance of 2022 and 2023, and the nominal roll of the agency.
The Chairman of the panel
insisted that the Committee was not out to antagonize the agency but to
collaborate with it to discharge its mandate to the benefit of Nigerians
especially women.
Responding, the Executive
Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Felix Ogbo, said the $300 million meant for the
Nigerian Content Intervention Fund was still domiciled in the Bank of Industry
(BoI).
According to Ogbo, the entire $300
million has been disbursed.
He added that the total amount
disbursed so far amounts to $330million, explaining that as beneficiaries pay
the money would be given to others who want to borrow.
"Bank of Industry carries
out quarterly monitoring to ensure the companies use the loan for the purpose
it was meant for. We also carry out joint annual project monitoring with the
Bank of Industry," Ogbo added.
He NCDMB pledged to supply all
documents requested by the committee before its next interactive session.
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