Sopuruchi Onwuka
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has activated processes for development of an industrial park in Ondo State, making it the sixth of such facilities to be established across petroleum industry hubs in Niger Delta.
According to the corporate communications unit of the agency which is primarily saddled with the role of linking the huge petroleum industry budgets to the local economy, the industrial park planned for Ondo State is to be sited in Ilaje area of the state.
A team from the NCDMB has already visited the site in the company of the officials of the Ondo State government to assess the location of the proposed oil and gas park in Ilaje area of the state.
The NCDMB stated that the site if the industrial park which would be realized under the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGaPS) would soon begin to host activities.
The development of oil and gas industrial parks dedicated to in-country manufacturing and value addition is part of NCDMB’s drive to deepen Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry.
The parks also form a huge part of NCDMB’s 10-year strategic roadmap aimed at increasing the Nigerian Content level in the oil and gas industry to 70 per cent by 2027.
Two of the industrial parks in Emeyal 1, Bayelsa State and Odukpani, Cross Rivers States are at advanced level of construction and are scheduled for commissioning before the end of 2022.
NCDMB is also developing the Oil and Gas Park project in Oguta, Imo State; Ikwe in Onna Local Government Area of Ibom State; and in Delta State and they are in different stages of development.
The Ilaje project is the sixth oil and gas industrial park under the portfolio of NOGaPS aimed at creating low-cost manufacturing hubs that will produce equipment components and spare parts to be utilized in the nation’s oil and gas industry.
Executive Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akerodolu (SAN) and his Deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa later received the team at the Government House in Akure, where the Governor promised to provide full support for the timely realization of the project in the state.
Governor Akerodolu commended the NCDMB for its efforts and for selecting Ondo as the next state in its NOGaPS development.
The cost and funding arrangements for the project are yet to be determined. The NCDMB traditionally forges partnerships and builds commercial arrangements around its projects to them viable.
