EXCITING NEWS: TNG WhatsApp Channel is LIVE…
Subscribe for FREE to get LIVE NEWS UPDATE. Click here to subscribe!
… breakdown the 3 major objectives
Leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives, Rep Kingsley Ogundu Chinda has said the proposed Local Content Bill will be all encompassing as it will affect all segments of the Nigerian economy.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports Chinda made this disclosure in a chat with members of the NASS New Media Forum on Wednesday.
While responding to the kernels of the Bill, Chinda said: “Regarding the local content development, three of the objectives is to promote the country value and to maintain the expenses we make outside and to get more local content involved and we have the Ajaokuta Steel there; what do you think this present administration can do leverage on that?
“Let me start with the Ajaokuta, truly it will be difficult for us to develop without developing the steel sector because every infrastructure will depend heavily on steel and so as long as we continue to import steel it will be difficult to develop local industries.
“Car manufacturing industries, several aspects of construction, will require steel and so attention will be given to that sector very strongly as much as attention will be given power.
“Now back to the bill, I pray that that bill sees the light of day and quickly. Why I say so is because good things are always difficult to birth because there will be so much opposition, so much, so much argument.
“I know that at a time issues of maybe tribe, religion and all that will come to play particularly those that will be affected are big players in our economy.
“If you look at the oil sector today, some of the oil companies are beginning go backtrack, why, the local content is bringing in our locals into that field, Nigerians are beginning to participate, they are beginning to be big players in the oil sector because of the Local Content Act.
“Now what we are saying in that bill is that the gains we have made in the oil sector, there is need for us to start early to make the same gains in other sectors, ICT, Agriculture, construction and every facet of our economy, encourage Nigerians to be big players in these sectors, not just to import both manpower, technology and even the hardware and software.
“If we say a percentage of this must be localized or ABC must be given to locals, it means that we begin to develop our local capacity from day one.
“Take the mining that is going on in some parts of the Northern Nigeria today, if we develop the mining sector in this country, I am sure that very soon we will forget that we have oil because you have precious stones that more valuable than oil, that could fetch the country more money than oil but they are all lying there.
“And because they are not organised today is being stolen, you have people come from outside the country to illegally mine them, the cost is of no value to the country.
“So what we are trying to say, it is not just myself and 38 other members and I can tell you that more members are even interested in seeing that bill passed into law.
“And my prayer is once it is passed and implementation starts, we will see massive development in the country; we will also see issue of employment generation, the crisis we have today, the security issue and all that, to me part of the reasons is that people are unemployed, people are hungry, it is poverty that leads to some of these crisis.
“But if you provide proper avenue for people to generate money, I don’t think that anybody would want to go into crime, if you have opportunity of making money legitimately and so that is one of the things this bill will do for this country.
“However it will be open to public hearing where Nigerians will make their contributions, dissect it, cross the t’s and dot the i’s where necessary, I just pray that we fast tract it.
“