The House of Representatives Committee on Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for issuing his Executive Order 5, which restricts issuance of visas to foreigners whose skills were available within the country.
According to the committee, the executive order will help improve local content in public procurement, with science, engineering and technology components.
Chairman of the committee, Legor Idagbo (PDP-Bayelsa), who commended the President at the inaugural meeting of the committee yesterday, said the Executive Order was expected to promote the application of science, technology and innovation towards achieving the nation’s development goals across all sectors of the economy.
He explained that the executive order prohibits the Ministry of Interior from issuing visas to foreign nationals whose skills were readily available in Nigeria, adding that the President had, therefore, directed Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to engage indigenous professionals in the planning, design and execution of national security projects.
Idagbo revealed that following the proclamation of the executive order, the House has reviewed the jurisdiction of the committee to accommodate the details of the presidential executive order, hence the change of its name from ‘local content’ to ‘Nigerian content development and monitoring’.
He observed that there was need to amend the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (NOGICD), 2020 so that the successes achieved in the oil and gas sector could also be achieved in the other sectors of the economy in terms of job creation and capacity building of indigenous companies.
“We all know that it was through strong local legislation that a country like China was able to turn itself from a third world country to a first world country; and today has become one of the world’s leading economy,” he said.
He said that through Nigerian content, Nigeria might finally be able to make its oil wealth a blessing instead of a curse, stressing that “since the passage of the landmark Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, in 2010, significant progress has been made.”
Recall that President Buhari had on February 5, 2018, signed executive order 5, titled “Presidential Executive Order 5 for planning and execution of projects, promotion of Nigerian Content in contracts and science, engineering and technology.”
