The Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, Senator Teslim Folarin, has said that the passage of the Local Content (Amendment) Bill will aid the current drive to transform Nigeria into an industrialised, globally competitive country.
Folarin, the sponsor of the new bill, assured that if passed into law in its present contents, the bill required that approvals for the award of contracts by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) will require the issuance of a Nigerian Content Compliance Certificate to the awardee.
In addition, the lawmaker during a media chat said that the Public Procurement Policy would be relied upon to make local content compliance, a requirement for granting of Certificate of No Objection to procuring entities.
According to him, the bill is designed to introduce procedures that will improve the implementation of the local content Act in the hydrocarbon resources sector as well as other sectors.
Disclosing some of the provisions of the new bill, the legislator hinted that, among others, the draft bill provides for local content development committee to be headed by the Vice President, who will drive policy direction on local content across the broad spectrum of the nation’s economy, but more particularly in the oil and gas sector.
He further clarified: “The bill gives ministers who are responsible for implementing government policies in their sectors, additional responsibility for ensuring local content is achieved in all their transactions.
“Each sector will be required to set local content targets in its procurement of goods, services, and manpower and this will be well reflected in procurement planning, advertisement, bid evaluation, and vendor selection. Approvals for the award of contracts by the Federal Executive Council will upon enactment of the Bill require a Nigerian Content Compliance Certificate”, Folarin added.
He clarified that the amendments being sought through the bill to the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act 2010, would not have any negative financial implication for government as the structures for the implementation are already in place.
Folarin further said the bill would provide the legal framework for the implementation of local content policy in other key sectors of the nation’s economy including Power, ICT, Construction, Transport, among others.
