Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, has thrown his weight behind two new bills on Nigerian content, aimed at giving Nigerians opportunity to own and operate both oil and non-oil companies.
The new bills are being sponsored by the House of Representatives Committee on Local Content Development and Monitoring.
The Governor made his feelings known while hosting members of the House of Representatives Committee on Local Content Development and Monitoring, who were at the Government House to seek his input and support for the two new bills, on Wednesday.
Engineer Sule, who couldn’t hide his excitement, described the two new bills namely Nigerian Content Development and Enforcement Bill and a bill seeking to amend the Nigerian Local Content Law 2010, as God’s answer to the struggle he and some colleagues started in the 1990s, in the collective bid to enable Nigerians participate actively in the oil and gas industry previously dominated by the International Oil Companies.
The Governor pointed out that the agitation for the Nigerian content is a collective fight, which must be done in the interest of the development of the country.
Speaking from an enlightened background, having rose to the position of the Chief Executive Officer of the erstwhile African Petroleum, Engineer Sule, recounted the struggle for the introduction of local content in the oil industry, which led to the death of Niger Delta activist, the late Ken Saro Wiwa.
He argued that achieving local content in the Nigerian oil industry, will catapult the country on the path of enhanced development.
The Governor however urged the members of the committee to see their work beyond the oil and gas industry but to consider other God given resources such as solid minerals and agriculture.
