The Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, will perform the groundbreaking of two major projects in Bayelsa State on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
The projects are the Oloibiri Museum and Research Center (OMRC) and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Conference Hotel Project (CHP).
The OMRC will be erected at the location where commercial quantities of oil were first discovered in 1957 by Royal Dutch Shell.
The project is a collaboration between the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), and the Bayelsa State Government (BYSG).
The groundbreaking ceremony is coming 66 years after the historic discovery of hydrocarbon resources that became a turning point for the Nigerian economy.
The OMRC will correct 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.
The facility will store historic developments, data, equipment, and tools used in the Nigerian oil and gas industry for posterity.
It will also provide a Research Center where research prototypes from the industry can be tested against the requirements of the industry. Additionally, the museum will encourage tourism and integrate oil and gas host communities into the development of the sector.
The NCDMB Conference Hotel Project (CHP) is a three-star hotel being developed by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) at Swali, adjacent to the 17-storey Nigerian Content Tower.
The hotel will provide suitable accommodation for stakeholders and other personalities that visit Yenagoa for business or to participate in the several oil and gas events organised periodically at the Board’s 1000-seater ultra-modern Conference Centre.
The hotel will also provide accommodation for researchers and other persons that would visit the Oloibiri Museum, as well as boost Yenagoa’s attraction as a tourist destination.
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.
Speaking ahead of the groundbreaking event, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, who serves as the chairman of the project’s steering committee, listed the benefits of the facility, including placing Nigeria among other oil-producing nations that established oil and gas museums to recognize and preserve the heritage and origin of their oil and gas production.
The groundbreaking ceremony for both projects is expected to be attended by the chief executives of the sponsoring entities, bigwigs from the oil and gas industry, and stakeholders of the Niger Delta region.
