From Victor Osula, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the ‘Nigeria First’ policy to prioritise the patronage of local content.
The new approach, proposed by President Bola Tinubu, is termed the Renewed Hope ‘Nigeria First’ Policy.
The primary objective of the policy is to consider Nigerian local content first in any official business transactions. To that effect, the FEC has directed the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation to prepare an Executive Order to give it legal backing.
While briefing State House Correspondents on the new approach, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Muhammad Idris, said the policy aims to enrich citizens and promote the economy.
“This seeks to foster a new business culture that will be bold, confident, but also very, very Nigerian, and it aims at making the government invest in our people and our industries by changing how the government spends money, how we procure and how we also build our economy. Nigerian industry will take precedence in all procurement processes”, he said.
The Minister said contracts would be structured to build domestic capacity, and that contractors will no longer serve as intermediaries sourcing foreign goods, thereby killing local factories.
To ensure effective implementation, the Minister said the proposed policy had been segmented for clear understanding.
“The Bureau for Public Procurement, the BPP, has been immediately directed to revise and enforce procurement guidelines to prioritise locally made goods and homegrown solutions. It has also been directed to create what is called a local content compliance framework for all government procurements. The BPP has also been directed to maintain a register of high-quality Nigerian manufacturers and service providers regularly engaged by the federal government”, he explained.
Idris said the BPP had again been directed to redeploy procurement officers from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to their offices to ensure efficiency.
“No procurement of foreign goods or services already available locally shall proceed without justification, and the written waiver from BPP, where no viable local option exists, contracts must include provisions for technology transfer, local production or skills development, by way of example, the provision of Portal allocations under the sugar master plan should take into consideration participants backward integration plans and investment in Nigeria and ensure compliance with the Master Plan”, he stressed.
The Minister said that by the policy, MDAs are to immediately conduct an audit of all procurement plans and submit revised versions, adding that breaches will attract disciplinary action.
Meanwhile, the Council has approved several infrastructure and ecological projects across the country, including the rescoping of key federal roads, new road constructions, and the rehabilitation of dams and irrigation schemes critical to national food security.
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, disclosed that the Council approved the rescoping and variation of the dualisation project covering the Akure-Eta-Ogbese-Iju-Ekiti border to the Ikere-Ado-Ekiti road, covering parts of Ondo and Ekiti states.
“Fifteen kilometres of the 18.438km stretch will be constructed within available funds at a revised cost of N19.407 billion”, he said.
According to him, similar rescoping was approved for the Sokoto-Zamfara-Katsina-Kaduna dual carriageway, a 375km project inherited from the previous administration.
“The Sokoto to Zamfara section, originally awarded for N105 billion, has now been rescoped to cover 82.4km plus six bridges, still within the same budget”, Umahi noted.
FEC also approved the segmentation of the long-pending 105km Maiduguri-Monguno road in Borno State into phases, with the first 30km awarded for N21 billion.
Umahi emphasised that the remaining phase would be presented to the FEC upon completion of the first segment.
The Minister further disclosed that new contracts were also awarded, including the construction of the Abakaliki-Afikpo Flyover in Ebonyi State at N25 billion, and the construction of Ikoga Road and Atan-Alapoti-Ado-Odo Road in Ogun State at N37.045 billion.
Highlighting private sector collaboration and tax credit financing, Umahi revealed that the Enugu-Onitsha road project, partly funded by MTN, is being rescoped to 77km and awarded for N150 billion.
In the South-West, the remaining 96km stretch of the Benin-Sagamu-Ore road was approved for construction at a contract sum of N187 billion.
On international funding, Umahi announced that the 50km 7th Axial Road project, which includes five kilometres of bridges, has secured $651.7 million in funding from China Exim Bank.
“This road is a strategic evacuation corridor for goods from the Lekki Deep Seaport, including those from Dangote Refinery and Fertiliser Plant”, he said.
The Council also ratified previously announced projects, including the Aba-Ikot-Ekpene road (N30.23 billion), the expanded shoreline protection at Ebute-Ero and Outer Marina (revised to N176.495 billion), and the rehabilitation of the Cham-Numan section of the Gombe-Yola road, now awarded in phases, with N9.253 billion approved for the first phase.
Umahi reported progress on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, saying over 70 percent of work is completed on Section One.
“Thirty kilometres will be ready for commissioning by Mr President, and 10 kilometres of Section Two are nearing completion. We are also targeting 10 kilometres of completed concrete pavement on the Sokoto-Badagry corridor by May 25″, he said.
Also briefing newsmen, the Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office, Dr Emanso Umobong, announced the award of three critical dam rehabilitation projects aimed at preventing flooding and supporting irrigation in northern Nigeria.
“The Council approved the rehabilitation and expansion of Tiga Dam in Kano at N11.83 billion, the Shalagua Gorge Dam at N7.47 billion, and the Kafinciri Irrigation Project at N7.4 billion”.
These interventions, she explained, are part of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to ensure food security and wealth creation.
According to Umobong, the projects will positively impact 30,000 farm families and over 50,000 acres of farmland, enabling up to three annual farming cycles and generating over 300,000 jobs.
“Erosion control works, watershed management, and ecological remediation across 16 local government areas of Kano senatorial district are also part of the project scope.”
The Permanent Secretary further announced the award of a contract for repairs on the Alau Dam in Maiduguri, which had caused severe flooding in 2023.
“This timely intervention by the Ministry of Water Resources will prevent similar disasters this year”, Umobong assured.
