By Bashir Bello, Abuja
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Bitrus Bako Nabasu has revealed that his ministry has embarked on sensitization of Nigerian investors in the petroleum sector on the need to have local contents and to see to both foreign and local investors in the sector use raw materials sourced locally.
Speaking at the international Forum organized by his ministry on local contents, he said if investors in the petroleum sector, make use of raw materials sourced locally, it would save the country a lot of foreign exchange.
According to him, “Saudi authorities do not allow foreign oil companies to bring steel products into Saudi Arabia but forced oil firms to make use of steel found in the country.
“This has gone a long way to curb capital flight from that country”, he added.
He said if Nigeria adopts the same measures, capital flight and unemployment would be a thing of the past .
The technocrat also stated that another major aim of convening the stakeholders conference on local content is to see how individuals who are involved in one way or the other, in the oil sector, can exchange ideas, compare notes and get good advice from those who were already entrenched in the field of petroleum related business .
The Permanent Secretary stated further that his ministry would, on a continuous basis, embark on such sensitization drive.