‘Nigeria First Policy To Enhance Patronage of Local Tech, Products’

With the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) as well as implementation of the Nigeria First Policy, 80% of challenges faced while trying to convince investors and foreign partners, would have been solved.

This is even as local technologies and innovative products will have equally witnessed increased patronage.

The Nigeria First Policy is a federal government initiative to promote Nigerian-made goods and services and utilise Local content, infrastructure, and other value chains.

The executive vice chairman/chief executive of NASENI, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, at the MoU signing ceremony, which took place at the BPP headquarters in Abuja, noted that this development will ensure Nigeria ceases to be a dumping ground for foreign goods while focusing on promoting Nigerian products, goods, and services.

Halilu said, with support now coming from BPP, the over 50 market-ready NASENI products will be off the shelves and gain the patronage of Nigerians, adding that NASENI has earned for the country over $2 billion from its recent partnership activities with China alone.

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“One thing that is clear when I took over the leadership of NASENI was the determination to move the Agency from just producing prototypes to commercialisation of its technologies and products. This was complemented by the turnaround, which we did in rebranding the agency.

“We have 50 market-ready Nigeria-branded products. NASENI is building the biggest renewable energy park in Nasarawa and has entered into partnership with Abuja Technology Village to boost Technology Transfer and innovation, enhance local manufacturing capacity, transform NASENI’s research-focused installation into full production facilities, promote national brands and local production”, he further explained.

Buttressing the partnership between NASENI and BPP, he said, it is expected that the policy would have transformative impacts on Nigeria’s economy and human capital development, aligning with national goals for industrialisation, youth employment, and economic diversification.

Earlier in his speech, the director-general of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Dr. Adebowale Adedokun said, the MoU between BPP and NASENI offers a structured bridge between production and procurement and how to take locally made solutions off the shelves and to place them at the center of public service delivery, which aimed at aligning Government policies with national priorities as well as giving practical force to the Nigeria First Policy.

According to him, “NASENI’s innovations, from tractors to tablets, from surveillance drones to solar backup systems, will now be actively prioritised in the procurement plans by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. We are institutionalising a framework that makes local options not just preferable, but the default option before all others.

Specifically, he said further that with the signing of the MoU, the “BPP will now integrate NASENI’s Product catalogue into the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal, NOCOPO, and therefore encourage other MDAs to follow suit”

He noted that the “Nigeria First Policy is not an act of protectionism, but an act of patriotism grounded in performance, and it is targeted at fast-tracking Nigeria’s industrial revolution”.

While calling on all MDAs to follow NASEN’s footprint in promoting Made in Nigeria products, he said, the BPP’s revised threshold is now five billion naira for goods and ten billion for works, meaning that MDAs can act faster, while they continue to strengthen post-review and audit mechanisms.