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Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, Teslim Folarin, has said the committee will ensure every multinational company in Nigeria complies with 30 percent involvement of Nigerians in the top management positions.
He disclosed this when he addressed journalists during a special sallah party for his constituents at his family house in Oja’gbo, Ibadan.
Folarin said the committee has discovered that Nigerians are competent to do the same work expatriates have been doing.
His words: “The original intention is on oil and gas sector to make sure all the value chains are well coordinated and Nigerians have their 30 percentage participation intact. As it stands now, we know Nigerians don’t have up to five percent. We want to make sure we have our 30 percent participation, even though we know it won’t happen overnight but we are going to achieve greatly.
“When they created that committee, government sees the benefits and therefore extended it to other sectors and that is why Mr. President signed Orders Three and Five into law, which allow us to go into other sectors like manufacturing, ICT and many other sectors.
“There are so many things Nigerians can benefit from us. Of course, we won’t forget our primary responsibilities, which is the oil and gas, but we need prayers from Nigerians. With their prayers and support, we shall achieve greatly. It is about helping Nigerians.
“We discovered that Nigerians have capacity to do what expatriates are doing, but they need our support. We will find out why Nigerians are not involved in the top echelons of the oil companies in Nigeria.”
Folarin said if major contracts are given to foreign contractors, though he does not have any issue with that, “but what we are concerned about is that Nigerians must be involved. Those who will be supplying sand, supplying gravel must be Nigerians.
“For now, the gap is too wide but I believe the leadership of the Senate will do great job in that aspect. I can assure you that in December, I will brief you on the improvement of our committee,” he said.
