By OKEOGHENE AKUBUIKE

The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) says the Federal Government’s Nigeria First policy is designed to promote local businesses without shutting out foreign investors from participating in the nation’s economy.

The Director-General of BPP, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.

Adedokun explained that Nigeria remained part of the global economy and the policy was aimed at giving qualified local firms the first opportunity to participate in government projects.

“We are not shutting out foreign businesses. The law allows us to have what is called domestic preference. It is done everywhere, where you protect your local industries and local businesses,” he said.

He, however, warned that the preference for local firms was not automatic, noting that companies must meet minimum requirements and global quality standards to be considered.

“The option we are giving is to say, can we give Nigerians the first offer of refusal in partaking in those projects?

“They must also be competitive and meet minimum requirements. If you don’t meet the requirements, we will not give you consideration,” he said.

Adedokun explained that previous executive orders promoting local content lacked legal backing, adding that the current directive by President Bola Tinubu was being implemented through existing legal provisions.

“The difference now is that the President directed the BPP to use the instruments of law to make it happen.”

The D-G said the policy had been sectorised to cover automobile, furniture, apparel, information technology and small businesses, among others.

According to him, the policy is also aimed at improving the quality and competitiveness of locally manufactured products.

Adedokun said Nigerian firms handling furnishing works in some completed government offices had demonstrated capacity comparable to international standards.

The BPP boss noted that many major road projects across the country were already being executed by Nigerian-owned firms and delivering quality jobs.

He cited projects such as the Sokoto-Badagry Road, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road and the Trans-Sahara Road as examples of increasing local participation.

According to him, I discovered that a Nigerian construction company now possesses enough capacity to lease heavy equipment to foreign firms operating in the country.

Adedokun said the bureau was also enforcing stricter contractor classification procedures to ensure that firms grow progressively based on experience and competence.

“You don’t wake up one day and want to build a 10-storey building. Have you built a bungalow before? Companies should learn to grow step by step,” he said.

The D-G added that local companies were now improving their corporate governance structures and technical capacity because of the new procurement standards being enforced by the bureau.

He said BPP was collaborating with organisations such as the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), the National Automobile Development Council, and the Bank of Industry and other agencies to deepen local participation in key sectors.

Adedokun said the collaborations covered electric vehicles, solar energy, automobile production, oil and gas, and support for small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

He also disclosed that the Federal Government would soon unveil the community-based procurement for projects below N50 million.

“Any project below N50 million will be reserved for SMEs within the locality where the project is situated.

“A contractor from Abuja cannot go to another community and collect such jobs. We expect those projects to be executed by people within that locality.”

The BPP boss said the initiative was part of efforts to institutionalise local content development and strengthen the Nigeria First policy nationwide.(NAN)

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