Borderless commends FG on local content drive

The Borderless, a local content advocacy group in Nigeria, has commended the Federal Government on its drive to promote local content policy through the recently executive orders signed by the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

Founded in 2011 to promote the development of Nigerian capacity by advocacy by prefer choice, utilisation of domestic goods and services within and without cross border commercials; to further the utilisation of the Nigerian content and promote full implementation and wider Nigerian content policy through litigation, research, publication and monitoring, the Borderless stated that the Federal Government executive order which stipulates that Nigerian agencies must use local content as priority in their procurement is very commendable.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune at the weekend, the Chairman of Borderless, Mr Tunde Kusamotu, stated that “as a policy drive, this is very commendable. As a local content advocacy group, there is need to commend the government where they are doing the right thing and encourage them to do more.

“But in respect of that, what is most important is not just to sign the papers, but the implementation to ensure a full compliant. What this requires is that government must have the necessary will to ensure compliant, there must awareness so that individuals, whether the NGOs or the public can raise issue when there is no compliance.  The government must also partner with NGOs and non-state actors to ensure full implementation and compliance with procurement as guided by this executive order.”

Furthermore, he said the executive order becomes imperative given the state of the economy, “this is very important especially when you consider the issue of the foreign exchange challenges faced by manufacturers. It shows that we are importing more than we are exporting which places considerable pressure on our currencies. So if we are doing the next three manufacturing in Nigeria and export, that will shore up our foreign exchange reserves, create employment, boost the economy and other multiplier effects will be felt within the local economy.  This policy drive is commendable, it is very critical and it is one of the major anchors of the economic recovery drive of the government.

“On the other hand, apart from the government policy to drive local content participation in the economy, there also a Local Content Act that aims to drive Nigerian participation in the oil and gas sector. The participation is expected to have grown overtime. We have a mechanism to also monitor this growth, but the question is do we know where we are right now because it is necessary to know where we were before we can appraise our performance today.

“What we need to do this is information from relevant stakeholders to appraise the implementation of the Local Content Act by using the Freedom of Information Act to request for information from the regulators and the necessary stakeholders.

“We realised that the regulator, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is not ready to provide us with the necessary information regarding the level of performance by International Oil Companies (IOCs), so we have been to court and the court in its ruling found that the board should provide the information and asked the Attorney General of the Federation to ensure that the board complies. However, the court struck out the application on technical ground but advised that the board provide us with such information. Till date, the board is yet to provide the necessary information available.

“It is mind-boggling to know that an organisation saddled with the responsibility of ensuring compliance is now protecting those it is supposed to regulate.

“The Board argued that it will hurt the IOCs and that the objective of the information is for whistle blowing and monitoring the information; by so doing insisting on its non-disclosure posture on those ground.

“We are currently pursuing a judicial review of the case so that the Board can make such information available to the public so that the public will know just how well the legislation is well enforced and the how well the IOCs are complying,” he stated.