By Ejekwu Chidiebere
Energy Window International (Media) – The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) says it has started a strategic reset of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF), a key platform for facilitating information sharing and collaboration among key industry stakeholders and proposing interventions and policy changes. The goal of the reset is to deliver high-impact Nigerian content outcomes.
During a two-day retreat and first half of the 2026 Steering Committee Meeting of the NCCF, the Board said it considered the need for a clear, actionable roadmap to reposition the forum to be more effective in driving in-country capacity development in the oil and gas sector.
Declaring the retreat open, the Executive Secretary of the Board Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe who described the session as a “defining moment” in the evolution of the NCCF, noted that while the forum had recorded steady growth since its inception.
“The NCCF began as a vision, modest in structure but bold in intent. Today, we can confidently say that this baby has grown, nurtured by your dedication, strengthened by collaboration and sustained by our shared commitment to advancing Nigerian content,” he said.
Represented by the Acting Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Engr. Felix stressed the need for matching progress with intentional planning, urging stakeholders to focus on long-term impact.
He added: “This retreat is not just another meeting; it is a defining moment. We are here to reflect, interrogate our current realities and chart a clearer, more strategic path forward for the NCCF.”
He highlighted the baseline study conducted by Ernst & Young as a critical tool for benchmarking the forum against global best practices, identifying gaps and repositioning it for greater relevance. He noted however that transformation would depend on people, not just frameworks.
“The success of the framework, policy guidelines and roadmap we seek to develop will depend on the quality of our engagement, the sincerity of our contributions and our willingness to think beyond silos,” Ogbe stated, urging participants to be deliberate, constructive and bold in their deliberations.
Providing context for the retreat, Partner at EY and session facilitator, Mr Damilola Aloba, outlined three core objectives driving the engagement—strengthening aligned leadership on NCCF’s long-term direction; improving coordination between the Forum, its Sectoral Working Groups (SWGs) and NCDMB; and fostering shared ownership of its mission.
“We want to strengthen aligned leadership on NCCF’s long-term direction and ensure clear expectations across NCDMB, the NCCF Secretariat and SWGs,” Aloba said.
He added that the retreat would also enhance coordination frameworks to enable smoother implementation and more consistent stakeholder engagement, while ensuring a common understanding of execution responsibilities across the ecosystem.
Aloba disclosed that stakeholder consultations and benchmarking analysis revealed key structural and operational gaps, including unclear strategic direction, delays in project approvals and limited clarity around post-idea decision-making.
“The forum lacks clear strategic direction from NCDMB, creating uncertainty among SWGs regarding expectations and deliverables,” he noted, adding that “unrefined expectations and the absence of a supportive framework” further constrained performance.
Other findings included budget limitations due to reliance on NCDMB as the sole funding source; weak project evaluation and tracking capacity; and the absence of defined criteria for assessing project viability and impact.
He acknowledged strong commitment from SWG members despite these challenges, particularly in deploying time and financial resources towards capacity development initiatives across the oil and gas value chain.
