NESG: ‘EO5 should be extended beyond oil and gas’

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of MicCom Cables and Wires, Bukola Adubi, has called for the implementation of Executive Order 5 (EO5) beyond the oil and gas sector.

She made the call in an interview with journalists on the margins of the 29th edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit, which was held in Abuja recently, with the theme “Pathways to Sustainable Economic and Transformation and Inclusion.”

To deepen local content in the country, former President Muhammadu Buhari signed Executive Order 3 (EO3) in 2017 and EO5 in 2018.

Speaking specifically on EO5, Adubi stated that its implementation beyond the oil and gas sector would help sustain the MSMEs and the private sector.

“I understand there’s a lot of executive orders in play. The one that concerns me is Executive Order 5, which promotes Nigerian Content in contracts. It’s not being implemented, apart from in oil and gas. There’s a lot to be done there,” she said.

“If we’re saying that we want to sustain MSMEs and the private sector generally, then you’ve got to encourage them. If there’s an executive order in play, what’s the issue with the National Assembly turning it into a law?”

To incentivise the business environment in Nigeria and make it more attractive to investors, Adubi also called for synergy between the federal and state governments on tax legislation.

She believes that this would help to streamline taxes and eliminate multiple taxation.

“There’s a need for synergy between the federal and state governments on tax legislation. This is important, especially concerning waivers. Sometimes, the Federal Government may give waivers, but because the state governments have their tax laws, businesses get overburdened with taxes that shouldn’t be there if there were synergy,” she said.

The MicCom boss, however, commended the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for the effective implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act but noted that more of this kind of law is needed to drive up local content development in the country.

On foreign exchange, while pointing out the existence of fiscal policy challenges, she expressed optimism that the recent lifting of the ban on the importation of 43 items by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would positively impact the Naira.

At the conference, there were many conversations about sustainable economic and fiscal policies. Adubi, who was one of the delegates, said she is hoping for a positive outcome from the government based on discussions at the conference.