In giving credence to its policy on local content and boost indigenous companies, the Federal Government has declared that contracts and procurements worth N5billion and below would no longer be awarded to any foreign firms.
Speaking at a public hearing organized by the National Assembly joint committees on local content, Minister of State, Works and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu, said the decision was part of a way outlined by the government to patronize indigenous firms, which is in line with the planned local content laws in the country.
The Minister affirmed that contracts worth N5 billion and below, would be exclusively preserved for indigenous firms; “As part of measures being put in place for strengthening of local content laws in the country, contracts that are not more than N5 billion are to be the exclusive preserve of indigenous firms or companies for bidding, award and execution.”
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When probed by the Chairman of the NASS joint Committee, Senator Teslim Folarin, on how the new policy would affect construction giants like Julius Berger, etc, the Minister declared that proper categorization would be carried out to determine that position.
He said, “Julius Berger PLC is more or less an indigenized foreign firm going by a high involvement of Nigerians in its operations and management over the years which makes its categorization in this respect a bit difficult.” He added that other measures like registration of expatriates and proof of valid residence permit, among others, were also part of recommendations being made into the local content development bill.
