N’Assembly Wants Local Content Policy in Construction Sector

• N’Assembly Wants Local Content Policy in Construction Sector

Lawmakers are pushing for the local content policy currently existing in the oil and gas sector to be extended to the building and construction industry.

This, they said, would not only generate employment opportunities for Nigerians, but would also save the country huge foreign exchange being spent on goods and services already available in the country.

The Chairperson, House of Representatives Committee on the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute, Beni Lar, said that her committee would push for a bill to ensure a minimum of 60 per cent local content in all building projects in the country.

“The Local Content Bill in the oil and gas sector should be extended to the building and construction industry. We will ensure that the bill recommends 60 per cent local content on such projects,” Lar stated.

She condemned inadequate funds releases, adding that the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (the mother ministry of NBRRI) had consistently performed below 30 per cent in this regard.

“I even fear that the figure for the 2017 budget will be far below 30 per cent,” she lamented.

The eight-man committee, however, commended NBRRI for being prudent in the management of funds so far released to it.

Lar applauded the NBRRI management for its prudence, saying that the infrastructural deficit in the country and near absence of regulation in the industry made it very important that the National Assembly should support the institute.