Indigenous contractors to execute projects on national security – Minister

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, says indigenous professionals and firms will henceforth be used in the design and execution of projects involving national security.
Onu said this on Monday in Enugu during the launch of the Presidential Executive Order No. 5 in the South East.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Presidential Executive Order No. 5 was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on February 2, 2018.
The Order is for planning and execution of projects, promotion of Nigerian content in contracts and science, engineering and technology.
The minister was represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary at the ministry, Bitrus Nabasu.
Onu said that the letters of the document had given Nigerian companies and indigenous firms the opportunity to participate in national development through direct involvement in contract execution.
According to him, a Nigerian firm will no longer be disqualified from the execution of contracts on the basis of years of incorporation provided that the firm had the requisite expertise.
He said: “The Federal Government will, henceforth, place premium on the use of indigenous professionals and firms in the design and execution of projects involving national security.
“The age of the firm will not be important so long as it is legally registered and possesses the requisite qualification, competence and experience in that area.”
The minister said that expatriates would only be engaged on condition that such expertise was not available in Nigeria.
He said that the government ministries and agencies needed to leverage on the document to encourage indigenous professionals in the Diaspora to return home to develop Nigeria.
Onu said that the ministry would establish centres for acquisition of technology in the six geopolitical zones of the country for the promotion of technology and information management.
He said that the implementation of the document could not have come at a better time than now that the country was preaching diversification of the economy.
He said: “Goods that are consumed in very large quantities will have to be manufactured locally in the shortest possible time.
“Designs for all contracts, programmes and projects will be in English Language before contracts are signed.”
In a presentation, the Special Assistant to the Minister on Technical Matters, Ibiam Oguejiofo, said that the document was in the interest of Nigerians.
Oguejiofo said that government officials were duty bound to accept and implement the letters of the document.
He commended the president for the vision and political will to sign such Order.
He said that it was time Nigerians took interest in developing their country as well as take bold steps in the execution of international contracts.
In a goodwill message, the Director General of Projects Development Institute, Charles Agulanna, said that the institute would do its best in transferring technological knowledge to staff and Nigerians.
Agulanna said that the implementation of the document would give a facelift to infrastructural development in the country.
NAN reports that the event was attended by technologically based research institutions in the South East and other stakeholders.