Give Local Contractors Priority, Buhari Tells MDAs

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed all agencies of government to give priority to indigenous professionals for planning, design, and execution of national projects.

The President spoke yesterday at the inauguration of the Presidential Monitoring and Evaluation Council of Executive Order 5, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said President Buhari stressed that foreign professionals should only be considered where it had been certified that local expertise was not available.

“The Federal Government shall introduce Margin of Preference in National Competitive Bidding in contracts, in the evaluation of tenders, from indigenous suppliers of goods manufactured locally over foreign goods.

“All Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) shall ensure that any professional practising in Nigeria must be duly registered with the appropriate regulatory body in Nigeria.

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“All MDAs shall ensure that for all consultancy contracts awarded to foreign companies, engineering drawings, necessary calculations, design, among others, are made available to their corresponding Nigerian partners, including arrangements with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as partners towards local production of needed materials,” the statement said.

It explained that Executive Order Number 5 was made to place Nigerian professionals and manufacturers at the centre of the nation’s economy.

The President said his administration would use Executive Order 5 to midwife a new beginning that would transform Nigeria’s economy from resource-based to knowledge-based and innovation-driven.

President Buhari said suppliers and contractors under the national competitive bidding process shall disclose local material (processed or unprocessed), were available and needed for the execution of projects. He added that designs for all contracts, programmes, projects, among others, shall be in English language before signing.

“The Ministry of Interior shall ensure that Expatriate Quota for projects, contracts, and programmes are granted according to the provisions of the Immigration Act and other relevant laws.

“This will apply where qualifications and competence of Nigerian Nationals are not available or cannot be ascertained, which shall be contingent on training a such number of persons as may be required for the execution of the contract or project,” he said.

The President, who is also Chairman of the Presidential Monitoring Evaluation Council, said the team would oversee the general implementation of the Executive Order 5, while the secretariat would be domiciled at the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, supported by the Strategy Implementation Task Office for Presidential Executive Order 5 (SITOPEO-5).

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Ogbonnaya Onu assured the nation that the Council would harness the human and natural resources of the country, reduce exportation of jobs and remove the current renting pattern, which fuels inefficacy.