Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi, chairman of Nestoil Limited, has called for enforcing the local content law to build and protect local capacity.

 Mr Azudialu-Obiejesi made the call on Monday during a panel session on ‘Exportation of Local Capacity: Maximising Regional Opportunities’ at the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas conference in Abuja which will be held from June 30 to July 4.

Mr Azudialu-Obiejesi said, “The Nigeria Content Development and Management Board (NCDMB) has done quite well but we still have setbacks due to how these laws are enforced.”

Mr Azudialu-Obiejesi said effective law implementation was necessary to grow local capacity, and projects should be awarded to companies with proven capacity.

He called for a change in the implementation of the Nigerian content policy, which allowed contracts to be awarded to companies with the lowest bid in spite of their apparent lack of capacity to deliver the jobs.

According to him, if a country has enough capacity to become a net exporter to African countries, it is paramount to address the factors limiting its growth.

“We can export the capacity in the oil and gas industry to other countries but exporting them means that we need to ensure that we will have those companies that are in Nigeria already developed.

“The countries are expected to entrench all those capacities in terms of human resources, experiences, capital and equipment for export,’’ he said.

Olusegun Awolowo, the executive secretary of the National Action Committee (NAC) on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), said the committee was mandated to ensure that Nigerians benefited from its implementation.

Mr Awolowo said the committee would inaugurate the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI ) on July 16.

The GTI helps to guide shipment through customs clearance, including reduced tariff treatment under the AFCFTA in the receiving AFCFTA countries.

 According to him, one of the core mandates of AFCFTA is harmonising trade in goods and services, and Nigeria has a high comparative advantage in this regard.

He said that within the context of trade in services under the AFCFTA, four critical sectors have been identified, and one of them is automobiles, including the work of energy in services.

He said that the business sector allows anyone with expertise in any of the services to maximise the advantage of AFCFTA. 

(NAN)