For some Nigerians who are worried about the perceived non committal implementation of the local content policy, fellow citizens have been sabotaging the efforts of the government, said Mr. Emmanuel Ekon, Chairman, House Committee on Local Content.
Speaking at the just concluded Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, IN Houston, Texas, Ekon, who represents Abak Federal Constituency, said that some Nigerian professionals, align with their foreign clients to circumvent the local content policy of the federal government.
He said, "Nigerians are impeding the implementation of the local content law. A situation where Nigerian employees of the International Oil Companies, IOCs would tell the House Committee all sorts of lies is worrisome.
Local content
"A situation where lawyers who are supposed to defend the integrity of their country Nigeria, but instead take sides with the IOCs and work against Nigeria, is a very serious issue that should be looked into."
The House of Representatives member explained that local content in its entirety should be beneficial to all Nigerians if implemented appropriately.
"Local content has the capacity to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria for good. It has the capacity of transforming our economy to any level that we want to, but again the implementation lies with us all. We must realise that Nigeria is our country. We do not have any other country to call our own.
"Local content implementation is something every Nigerian must vigorously pursue. If it works, it will be good for all us. It will be good for our children and even the yet unborn," he said.
He however said that local content should be extended to other sectors of the economy, in order to achieve maximum benefits.
"With the activities of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, PETAN, as well as other indigenous companies, we must have it in our psyche that local content has come to stay. Since we have come to this realisation, we have to do everything within our power to make sure that local content is driving to a logical conclusion.
Local content should not be restricted to the oil sector. It should be implemented in other sectors of the economy as well, such as construction, aviation, telecommunications etc. We need to diversify local content so that Nigeria and Nigerians will benefit from it," he said.
Also speaking, Mr. Raymond Wilcox, General Manager, Local Content, Chevron Nigeria Limited and Chairman, Local Content, Oil Producers Trade Section, OPTS, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries, LCCI, said that though local content is working, the focus should be more on spending in-country.
He said, "Local content is working very well. We must caution ourselves about local content issues. In 2010, local content participation in the oil and gas sector was targeted at $15 billion. Six years after, we should be challenged to see that local target should move beyond $15 billion. The earnings from oil and gas are a lot more than that. The spending from oil and gas are a lot more than that.
Our local content policy should focus also on the whole spending in Nigeria. We need to look at everything we are spending money on."
According to him, Nigerian manufacturers should be patronised instead of foreigners. "Recently people were talking about the National Assembly buying cars, but nobody talked about buying those cars from Nigerian auto manufacturers. Imaging if N94 billion is pumped into Innoson, Anammco, the kind of impact it would have made on our economy.
"The challenge in our local content issue is, how can we truly do competitive business so that we attract the investment? Let us develop capacity and sustain it," he added.
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