Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote (FNSE)

Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote (FNSE)

Executive Secretary - Nigerian Content Development And Monitoring Board

Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote is the incumbent Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB). He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Institute of Petroleum Studies (IPS). He holds a Masters Degree in Corporate Governance from Leeds Metropolitan University and a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) Degree in Civil Engineering from Nigeria’s premier university of science and technology, the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. Prior to his current appointment as the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, he had an exceptional career in Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), spanning over 26 years. During his time in SPDC, he held several leadership roles and functioned in different capacities, including as Executive Director; General Manager Local Content; General Manager, Business & Government Relations. He also served in various other roles traversing engineering, operations, procurement and strategic local content development particularly in Nigeria, Gabon, Brunei, Oman, Kazakhstan, Australia, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan, USA and new frontier countries for Shell, just to mention but a few.

He was appointed by the His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari in September 2016 to lead the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, as Executive Secretary. Re-appointed for a second term in 2021, Engr Wabote has transformed the Board and Nigerian Content achievements from 26% in 2016 to 47% today.

Under his steer, in 2017, NCDMB developed a 10-Year Strategic Roadmap with the key objective of achieving 70% Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry; creating 300,000 direct jobs; establishment of major fabrication facilities in-country; and establishment of manufacturing hubs in-country for the manufacture of equipment, components and accessories required by the oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors.

Today, in furtherance of the NCDMB 10-Year Strategic Roadmap, the Board has developed different initiatives that is catalysing industrialisation of the oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors. These initiatives span from gas utilization programmes to modular refinery partnerships and growing local service companies through the provision of single digit loans.

An engaging and phenomenal public speaker, Engr Wabote is a stickler for details, transparency, and an advocate of end-to-end project planning and execution strategy.

He’s a multiple award winner including Global Local Content Advocacy Award; the most outstanding Transformational Leader in Nigeria’s Public Sector space in 2019 by Nigerian Business and Leadership Awards; and the 2021 African Local Content Icon Award by the Africa Leadership Magazine.

In October 2022, Engr Wabote was honoured by the President, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari with the National Excellence Award in Public Service (NEAPS) for his outstanding work in capacity development in NCDMB.

These awards and many more are in recognition of his numerous ground-breaking achievements and revolutionary initiatives deployed for the promotion of local content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry landscape and the linkage sectors.

Engr Wabote who is a devout Christian of the Anglican persuasion is a Knight of St. Christopher in the Anglican Communion. He is also an ardent golfer and a voracious reader of books on diverse subjects.

A native of Okpoama in Bayelsa State, Engr Wabote is happily married with three children.