National Assembly initiates new bills for local content in energy sector

Legislative aides seek improved remuneration
The National Assembly is processing three different legislations to improve local content in the oil and gas as well as power sectors.

According to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, Teslim Folarin, the bills are very important and sacrosanct to the development of the country’s oil and gas industry, which is one of the most viable sectors of the economy.

The legislations are the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (58.417); the Nigerian Local Content Enforcement Bill, 2020 (58.419); and the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act, 2010 (Repeal and Re-Enactment Bill, 2020 (58.420).

Speaking at a public hearing on the bills yesterday at the National Assembly complex, Folarin explained that the bills, among other things, seek to consolidate on the gains of the local content component implementation in the oil and gas industry, pursuant to the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, 2010.

One of the bills also seeks to provide the needed legal framework for the implementation of local content in other key sectors of the economy, including power, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), construction and transportation.

Declaring the public hearing open, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, commended sponsors and supporters of the bills for seeking the precise legislative framework to tap the country’s many potential.

MEANWHILE legislative aides have appealed to the leadership of the National Assembly to ensure that their salaries and other allowances are paid as and when due.

Chairman of National Assembly Legislative Aides, Alhaji Salisu Zuru, who stated this yesterday while fielding questions from newsmen in Birnin Kebbi, added that it was the responsibility of the National Assembly Commission and the management to improve on the legislative aides’ welfare package.