…Tasks host communities on sustenance
Julius Berger, the contractor handling the Oloibiri Museum and Research Centre as well as the Local Content Conference Hotel, all in Bayelsa state, have been urged to carry along the host communities in determination of the local content of entire project.
Conducting the groundbreaking ceremony in Bayelsa state yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by minister of petroleum resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, warned that the contractors must abide by agreed timelines and deadlines in the completion of the project.
The President therefore directed the contractors, Messrs direJulius Berger and Messrs MegaStar Technical and Construction Co Ltd, handling the Oloibiri Museum, and the Nigerian Content Development Management Board [NCDMB] Conference Hotel, to ensure excellence in their task
President Buhari reiterated the commitment of his administration towards the commemoration of crude oil production in Nigeria, boldly represented by Oloibiri and the environs. He said the federal government has put all necessary machinery in place, including funding arrangements to ensure hitch-free delivery of the projects.
Also Read: Sylva To Perform Groundbreaking Of Oloibiri Museum, NCDMB Conference Center In Bayelsa
President Buhari said the host communities have no choice than to own the projects and protect them, and emphasized the need for the contractors to comply with the Community Content Guidelines of the NCDMB Act.
Buhari said: “I hereby direct the lead contractors of both projects, Julius Berger and the MegaStar Technical and Construction Company Limited to integrate the host communities and their traditional institutions and skilled youths in the various scopes of the projects.
“I also expect that you will build capacities where necessary to ensure a hitch-free project delivery. Specifically, I recommend that the contractors should study the Community Content Guidelines issued by the NCDMB.”
The Oloibiri Museum and Research Center would be erected at the location where commercial quantities of oil were first discovered in 1957 by Royal Dutch Shell.
This is coming 66 years after the historic discovery of hydrocarbon resources, which became a turning point for the Nigerian economy.
The Museum and Research Center is being developed as collaboration between the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) and the Bayelsa State Government (BYSG).
The federal executive council (FEC) had on February 8 awarded the contract for the Phase-1 Engineering, Procurement & Construction of the OMRC to Julius Berger.
Also Read: Sylva To Perform Groundbreaking Of Oloibiri Museum, NCDMB Conference Center In Bayelsa
At a pre event briefing in Yenegoa, the executive secretary of the NCDMB Mr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, who serves as the chairman of the project’s steering committee, described the Museum and Research Center as a historical oversight that lasted for several decades during which time the people of Bayelsa State complained that they had nothing to show for being the birthplace of oil and gas production in Nigeria.
He added that the project would place Nigeria among other oil-producing nations that established oil and gas museums to recognise and preserve the heritage and origin of their oil and gas production.
He listed the benefits of the facility to include the provision of a suitable location where historic developments, data, equipment, and tools used in the Nigerian oil and gas industry would be stored for posterity and provision of a Research Center where research prototypes from the industry can be tested against the requirements of the industry.
The museum would equally encourage tourism, and integration of oil and gas host communities into the development of the sector.
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