IPF Demands Removal of NCDMB Executive Secretary, Ogbe From Office

By Monday Peters, Abuja

The Ijaw Media Council, the Ijaw Publishers’ Forum (IPF) has thrown weight behind Niger Delta stakeholders’ called for the removal of the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr Felix Omatsola Ogbe over poor performance and abuse of power, citing incompetence and alleged ethnic bias.

According to a statement signed by its national president Comrade Ozobo Austin, Comrade Kagbala Ezekiel, Spokesman and Comr Tare Magei, secretary on Friday, the group passed vote no confidence on Egnr Ogbe.

The media experts said, the Executive Secretary has failed to promote the renewed agenda of President Bola Tinubu but instead uses his office to advance an Itsekiri agenda.

The Ijaw apex media Council noted that Ogbe was among people fueling the fresh crisis in Warri, turning his office to Olu of Warri private company, where only the Itsekiris were being engaged and empowered.

The IPF alleged that the Executive Secretary has demonstrated incompetence in his role, failing to effectively promote Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry, adding that the Executive Secretary was using his office to promote the interests of the Itsekiri people, rather than working in the best interests of Nigeria and its people.

The IPF had called on President Bola Tinubu to remove the Executive Secretary from office, noting that his removal would help to restore confidence in the NCDMB and ensure that the organization is able to effectively promote Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry.

The IPF urged President Bola Tinubu to put a system to monitor the Nigeria content development board to ensure that public officials work in the best interests of the country and its people, rather than advancing personal or ethnic agendas.

The media chieftains said the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) was established to maximize the participation of Nigerians in oil and gas activities, integrating oil-producing communities into the value chain, fostering institutional collaboration, building local capacity, and linking the oil and gas sector to other sectors of the economy, emphasised that Ogbe has failed, refusing to engage and build capacity among Ijaw and Urhobo critical stakeholders of the oil producing communities.

They maintained that Ogbe instead of delivering on his mandate of focusing on maximizing the utilization of Nigerian resources (goods, services, and assets), attracting investment, and promoting local manufacturing and service provision, he now used the government funds to building ethnic militia groups against Ijaw and Urhobo people in Delta State.

The group stressed that Agbe activities now posed several threats to the peace in Niger Delta, citing that he had abandoned his duty of monitoring and evaluating the performance of operators and service providers to ensure compliance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.

The Ijaw media council threatened to stage a mother of all protests to shut down the local content head office in Bayelsa to force him out of office if the president Bola Ahmed Tinubu treats their call for the removal of Ogbe with levity.