Senate Passes Bill Forcing Gov’t To Purchase Made-In-Nigeria Goods

The senate has mandated Government
agencies to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods
following the passage of the Public
Procurement Act 2007 (amendment) bill 2016,
which seeks to promote local contents.
Speaking after the consideration of a
report on the bill, Senate President Bukola
Saraki emphasised that priority must be
given to local goods.
He said: “In stimulating our economy, we
all have a role to play to ensure that the
executive complies especially in the area of
giving first priority to locally-produced
goods.
“This has helped many countries to
develop when they had issues of downturn
in their economy. I believe that having
over N3trn available to stimulate local
production going on now.
“One of the things that we have done today
is also trying to shorten the process of
awarding contracts; this will go a long way
in helping budget implementation.
“It would go a long way in ensuring that
most of the funds are available as quickly
as possible and jobs are actually
completed. I want to commend my
colleagues for passing this bill.”