TheCable

President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, appointed Felix Omatsola Ogbe as executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

The move was said to be in accordance with sections 71(1), 72, and 73 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (2010).

Ogbe, with the appointment, replaced Simbi Wabote, who had held the position since 2020 — when he was re-appointed for an additional four years by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.

Since the appointment was announced on the night of December 7, there have been questions about the identity of the man who would now steer the affairs of one of Nigeria’s most critical oil and gas agencies.

Here are a few things to know about him, as the quest to unravel the mystery man continues.

A DIRECTOR AT CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT AND PROJECTS LIMITED 

Perhaps, the easiest thing to know about the appointee is information about his job before the appointment. Ogbe is a director at the Construction Equipment and Projects Limited, a company which registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on February 12, 1996.

The private company limited by shares, was incorporated in Lagos, with the registration number: 288073.

The firm specialises in manufacturing, importing, exporting, buying, selling, leasing, or dealing in all kinds of construction equipment.

The organisation also grants any person or persons the right to such equipment and property.

TheCable understands that he was also a senior manager “with Chevron’s Facilities Engineering Group before exiting about a decade ago”.

AN ENGINEER FROM DELTA STATE

Ogbe, an engineer from Itsekiri in Delta state — the south-south region of the country — is married to Brena Ngozi Ogbe.

Ogbe Ortseseundede and Oritsemoyowa Ogbe are likely the offsprings of the new executive secretary.

His wife and Ortseseundede are both directors at the construction company.

OGBE’S WIFE ALSO RUNS A SEPARATE BUSINESS

More so, Brenda is also the director of BDM Global Associates Limited, a private company limited by shares. The firm, according to registration details, focuses on general contracts and merchandise.

Registered on January 24, 2018, with a registration number of 1466287; the firm is located at Agun El-Shaddai Chambers, 62, Kudirat Abiola Way (second floor).

Ortseseundede is also a director at BDM Global Associates Limited, while Oritsemoyowa is the secretary.

However, a search on CAC’s website on BDM Global Associates Limited and Construction Equipment and Projects Limited, showed that both companies have an ‘inactive’ status, meaning that the organisations have not been filing their annual returns with the CAC.

A ‘GHOST’ FAMILY

Meanwhile, the new NCDMB executive secretary has no digital footprints apart from his aforementioned affiliation with the firm — Construction Equipment and Projects Limited. Ogbe’s profile is also nonexistent on the internet — not even a Google search can help.

This same is the case for Brenda, his wife, and the two children named above.

“The man is a ghost. I’ve also been searching but we’re yet to have any information about him,” a source at NCDMB told TheCable.

With the lack of a digital footprint, Ogbe may either be described as a man with an aversion to technological adoption or someone with an appeal for a private lifestyle.

Whatever the case might be, the continued absence of his profile in the public domain may cast doubts on his competence to lead NDCMB — an agency battling to institutionalise local content in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

SCAMMED IN 2012, NOMINATED FOR NDDC CHAIRMANSHIP IN 2021

In 2021, when an association, known as the Itsekiri Interest Group (IIG), felt that the chairmanship of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) should swing to the region, Ogbe was among the 10 names nominated to be considered for the position by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.

Prior to this, Ogbe appeared in the news after he was defrauded of the sum of N20 million by some individuals pretending to be executing a contract awarded to them by the federal government, in 2012.