The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the country’s economy can only grow if local producers are patronised.
He said this while in Lagos, explaining the reason why the government did not employ the services of local contractors, noting that they were not “qualified”.
He said, “it is good for us to buy and equip ourselves with made in Nigeria goods, by so doing, it will support Nigerian producers, that’s the only way our economy will become productive.
“I am among those who will want to support Nigerian Engineers and Contractors, we have tried it in the consulting engineers’ sector, we asked for five (5) years experience and they take photographs of other people’s work and attached it, so they are not qualified.
“The only TEAM will qualify because Lagos-Ibadan rail project TEAM supervised.
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“Abuja-Kaduna rail project, TEAM supervised and Warri-Itakpe rail project TEAM also supervised, so they are the only company that must have done five years.
“Or you want me to bring in a Nigerian company when the train derails and 50 people die, you start calling Amaechi.”
The minister said that the Nigerian engineers and contractors would only be given jobs when they are qualified.
“For me, I will love to get in Nigerians but they must be qualified, they must meet the requirements as approved by the Directorate of Railways.
“There is this rehabilitation that was done by the Goodluck Jonathan’s Administration, some local contractors got it, they gave to CCECC to do it for them, some got it and called foreign companies to do it for them, but I am not going to allow that, if you want to do railway contracts, go and build capacity.
“But we can not give unqualified people life-threatening contracts, if you have the capacity, you will come number one before any foreign company.”
