The House of Representatives as approved by the Chairman House committee on Media and Public Affairs Rep. BenjaminO. Kalu (MHR) for a periodic enlightenment of the public on select Bills and Motions in a latest statement on Tuesday has come out to enlighten the public on the Nigerian Local Content Development and Enforcement Bill 2020, IgbereTV report.
According to the statement released the concept of local content policy is to encourage local participation, ownership and control of certain key sectors by indigenous businesses, which is vital to preserving Nigeria’s socioeconomic independence and enhancing the ability of indigenous businesses to exploit local opportunities while staying globally competitive.
It was revealed that the key local content legislation in Nigeria is the 10-year old Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act 2010 (NOGICDA) which established the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) but is limited to the oil sector.
The President also made efforts to extend local content compliance to the public procurement practices of federal parastatals vide his Executive Orders 003 and 005.
However, following the celebration of the Africa Day which took place on May 25, and the current COVID-19 induced global economic position which has forced countries to look inwards for economic growth and sustainability, it has become imperative to extend local content policy beyond the
Petroleum Industry to other critical sectors like, ICT, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Power, Solid Minerals, Construction, Health etc through comprehensive legislation
The Nigerian Local Content Development and Enforcement Bill (the Bill) is sponsored by Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, Rep. Legor Idagbo and 7 other members of the House of Representatives and it seeks to expand the scope of local content in the NOGICD Act there by putting the Nigerian economy in the hands of Nigerians, creating jobs and enhancing the value of indigenous businesses post Covid-19.
The Bill according to the report has passed Second Reading.
Below are key provisions and expected socio-economic benefits:
1. Promotion of local manufacturing and economic diversification with
focus on ICT, Agriculture, solid minerals, hydrocarbon refining, power
and manufacturing:
a. Provision for incentives to encourage local processing of hydrocarbon
resources,export of processed mineral & agricultural commodities, local
manufacturing of equipment, machinery, spares, chemicals, ICT
hardware,development of software etc.
b. Provision for standardisation of locally made goods and locally sourced
raw materials to make them competitive in the international market.
2. Preference for Nigerian made goods and services in all public
procurements:
a. Nigerian content philosophy as a key requirement in all public sector
procurements
b. Provision for the creation of local content departments in MDAs
c. Requirement for Nigerian Content Plan (NCP) on major projects (above
N100 Million) outlining minimum Nigerian Content thresholds for
materials, labour and services required on the project
d. Nigerian content requirements in solicitation of bids
e. Requirement for Nigerian content compliance certificate as a pre-condition
for contract awards
f. Creation of Nigerian content committee to develop economy wide local
content policy.
3. Creation of a robust R&D ecosystem to drive home grown technology
development:
a. Provision to promote collaboration between Research institutions, product
developers and end users of Research
b. Provision to incentivize funding of research by public and private sector
entities
4. Job creation drive to address unemployment:
a. First consideration for Nigerians with requisite skills in all public funded
projects
b. Provision to create national data base of available skills
c. Requirements for approval and utilisation of expatriates to only roles
where there is immediate skills shortage
5. Capacity building to develop resilient local supply chain:
a. Provision for targeted sector-specific capacity building programmes
b. Requirement to close capacity gaps in education, infrastructure, facilities
and vendor development on the back of projects
6. Sustainable Funding for local content:
a. Provision to create a Nigerian Content Trust fund dedicated to
implementing projects and programmes connected to developing local
content
b. Application of the Fund to develop SMEs through low interest project –
based financing schemes.
Rep Benjamin Kalu revealed the enactment of the Nigerian Local Content Development and Enforcement Bill will strengthen executive-legislature synergy and oversight on local content
administration in key sectors of the economy.
“It will also provide necessary legislative backbone for implementation of key initiatives that will evolve from the Presidential Economic Sustainability Committee as well as other policy actions by the Executive aimed at repositioning the Nigerian economy post COVID-19,” he added.
