Power: Saraki Tasks Foreign Investors On Local Content
Adetokunbo Fakeye
Nigeria Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki on Tuesday urged foreign firms investing in Nigeria, especially in the power sector, to ensure the compliance with the Local Content Act in their operations.
Saraki, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, stated this when a delegation from the Power Generation and Integrated Energy Solutions (Powergies Group) visited him. He said the Senate would continue to support and encourage foreign investors coming into the country for as long as the they are ready to inject the required local content in their operations.
He said he was particularly pleased that the Powergies Group said they had identified the country as viable for investment in the area of renewable energy as this would help in meeting the power needs of Nigerians , especially those living in the rural areas.
He said: “I agree with you entirely about how we missed it when we started oil and gas sector and it took us much time before we started to talk about local content.
“I think in the area of energy, we should not make the same mistake. Am talking on behalf of my colleagues. Am fully in support and I encourage local content in the development in the energy sector and that is also looking at how we can really use solar energy as one of the means to provide energy for Nigerians,” he said.
He said the Senate is presently working on reviewing relevant legislations that would take out existing bottleneck and challenges against businesses.
Earlier, leader of the delegation and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the Powergies Group, Mr. Semiu Odeyinka said the company is in the country to invest in the power sector through the development of sets of solar and hybrid generation plants.
Odeyinka said: “We intend to bring customized power solutions in electricity to areas in Nigeria where there is no access to electricity by generating 900 megawatts of electricity using solar energy.”
While urging the Senate and other relevant stakeholders to make the business environment in Nigeria investment-friendly, he promised that the Powergies Group would build local content into all its activities in the country.