The Deputy Chief Whip of the Delta State House of Assembly, Honourable Solomon Ighrakpata, has said the proposed Delta State Local Content Agency law will help to create jobs and wealth for Deltans.
Speaking with Assembly Correspondents after the bill was read for the second time on the floor of the State House of Assembly,
Honourable Ighrakpata, who represents Uvwie Constituency in the House, said the proposed law was in consonance with the Local Content Act of the federal government.
The Lawmaker said there was a need to domesticate the Local Content Act as passed by the National Assembly and commended Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for sending the executive bill to the State Assembly for legislative action.
He noted that the primary objective was to create an agency that would stand on behalf of the state government to ensure that the Local Content Act was operated within Delta State.
Honourable Ighrakpata explained further that the agency would ensure that the Act benefitted the people of the state, especially in oil and gas producing areas and impacted communities across the state.
The legislator, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Special Duties, stressed that the proposed law would make fifty percent indigenous participation in the areas of workforce and contract awards mandatory.
Honourable Ighrakpata described the Bill as laudable and expressed optimism that the establishment of a Local Content Agency in the state would push companies and contractors operating in the state to engage their workers from within the state and increase indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry.
He said the state needed all the enabling laws to compel companies to contribute to the development of the state at all times.
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