UniAbuja VC seeks professional bodies, govt synergy for improved local content

The Vice- Chancellor of University of Abuja, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’allah, has appealed to professional bodies to comply with Executive Order 5 of Mr President and partner with government to improve local content and value addition.

Na’allah made the appeal during the 4th Annual Conference and General Meeting of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Giri branch, Abuja.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari signed Executive Order 5 to improve local content in public procurement with science, engineering and technology components on Feb. 5, 2018.

Order 5 of 2018 is a general provision for “Local content” in Federal Government contracts.

It provides specific “margins of preference” to be given to indigenous contractors and suppliers of goods in Federal Government bids for works and goods.

Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are directed to maintain a 15 per cent margin of preference for domestic contractors in respect of international “Competitive Bidding” for goods, and 7.5 per cent for works.

The Executive Order is also expected to promote the application of science, technology and innovation toward achieving the nation’s development goals across all sectors of the economy.

The theme of programme is “Utilising Emerging Disruptive technologies for sustainable national development. “

Na’allah, who was represented by Prof. Nazifi Darma,Development Economics of the institution, noted that executive order 5 gave opportunities for local content development.

He urged the professional bodies, especially Nigerian Society of Nigeria (NSE) to enlighten the public on the need to engage only registered engineers by asking for their COREN registration number before awarding them.

“This is wake up call for the NSE to put their house in order so that quacks will not take over their jobs,” he said.

Na’allah also advised NSE to partner with local branches and engage in stock taking of the performance of its members to ensure buildings are constructed by registered engineers for better standardisation.

The Chairman of NSE, Giri branch, Mr Olayinka Abdulkareem, stressed the importance of descriptive technology to the quality of job of engineers.

The Guest Speaker, James Agajo, called for technologically informed and adaptive regulatory reforms and improved infrastructure and human capital, would enable the nation achieve optimal economic growth and sustainable development. (NAN)