By Fatima Saka
The Senate Chairman Committee on Local Contents, Senator Natasha Hadiza Akpoti has uncovered Twenty million dollars for women in the Oil and Gas sectors.
Also, fifty million dollars for Research and Development are to be accessed by expatriates for developmental purposes.
This was disclosed on Wednesday during an interactive session as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) appeared before the Senate Committee on Local Contents in Abuja at the National Assembly Complex.
The Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, lamented that the oil and gas sectors have been operating in isolation.
She added that the funds are meant for developmental purposes, the educational sectors, Agriculture sectors and also to empower the women.
Senator Akpoti further stressed that with the current situations bedeviling the country, the issue of insecurity, kidnapping among others, that it’s because of the rate of unemployment.
She further urges the board to always advertise employment opportunities, as well as Grant’s and empowerment schemes on their portal so that Nigerians will have access to such opportunities and participate.
The Senate Chairman Committee on Local Contents further reiterated that for the first time she is aware of the twenty million dollars for women in oil and gas, fifty million dollars for research and development. “We the senators’ people look at us as being privileged, and fifty million dollars for research and development. This is the first time this committee is knowing about such funds.”
She further urged the board to educate Nigerians about such opportunities, not to keep it to themselves and their relatives.
However, the committee summons the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to return on another day as scheduled by the committee, alongside with other relevant documents for proper scrutiny.
DistinctNews gathered that these funds have been domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria and Nelson Banks in New York, with no intentions to be accessed by the beneficiaries.
