By Precious Oham
The Director-General, Bureau of Local Content in Ekiti State, Olalekan Ijidale on Tuesday said that the Ekiti State government will sanction erring contractors for violating the local content law in the State.
Ijidale, who was accompanied by the Senior Special Assistant on Local Content Development to the State Governor, Ogunsakin Michael Ayotunde, stated this in Ado-Ekiti during an inspection at the construction sites handling various projects in the State.
He expressed dissatisfaction with one of the contractors for failure to comply with the local content law by incorporating 40% of Ekiti indigenes as skilled and unskilled workers.
The Director-General went further to restate the commitment of Governor Biodun Oyebanji in ensuring that 40% of local artisans and materials are patronised and sourced in handling various projects especially Construction works in the State.
His words: “We are out today to crosscheck the rate of employment of Local skill and labour, we did head count of the worker just 13 out of the 69 employed for this project are from Ekiti and that will not be tolerated, the Bureau will surely sanction the contractor, failure to comply will result to 5% of the contract sum.
“The law stated that 40% of Ekiti indigenes must be involved in contract execution in Ekiti State. They are the tax payers. They paid for this particular project and there is no how our economy can be boosted if they cannot be part of the execution process of this gigantic project.
“So, they should employ Ekiti people at the rate of 40% of the contract required labour and skills. That is what the law stated. If you are having 13 people from 69 list being employed from Ekiti State for this project, then the level of compliance is very low. The bureau will not take it very likely.
“One of the promises the Governor made to the people of the State during electioneering is that he is going to make use of Ekiti in project execution in Ekiti State. That is why he set up the Bureau of Local Content.
“The Bureau has been empowered by the law to enforce any contractor who fails to comply with the law. This is our third time to this contract site. We have been hearing about information that they bring in their workforce from another state, bring their materials from another state and just little are being sourced from Ekiti State.
“The government of Oyebanji has insisted that our people must be adequately engaged in execution of projects and we expect nothing less than 40% of the total workforce.”