According to the Federal Government, contracts whose value are below N5 billion will no longer be given to foreign companies in Nigeria.
While talking about this development at a public hearing organized by the National Assembly’s joint committees on local content, Minister of State for Works and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu said the decision is in line with the local content laws and will promote patronage of indigenous firms and services.
He said: “As part of measures being put in place for strengthening of local content laws in the country, contracts that are not more than N5bn are to be exclusive preserve of indigenous firms or companies for bidding, award and execution.”
When asked whether the policy shift would affect construction companies like Julius Berger, the Minister said appropriate classification would be carried out to determine that.
“Julius Berger PLC is more or less an indigenised foreign firm going by high involvement of Nigerians in its operations and management over the years which makes its categorisation in this respect a bit difficult.
“Procedures including registration of expatriates and evidence of valid residence permit among others are also part of the prescriptions being embedded into the local content development bill.”
