The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has unveiled a proposed policy to strengthen local participation in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector.
Dr Obiageli Amandiobi, NOTAP director-general, announced the proposal at a national workshop on its implementation in Lagos on Wednesday.
The workshop’s theme was “Strengthening Indigenous Capacities through Technology Transfer: Implementing NOTAP’s Manufacturing Local Vendor Policy for Sustainable Industrial Development in Nigeria”.
Amandiobi said the policy would require foreign technology providers to engage Nigerian engineering firms in equipment maintenance, technical services and manufacturing operations.
According to her, the proposal requires at least 40 per cent of approved technical service and management fees to be paid directly to accredited Nigerian vendors in naira.
It also proposes allocating at least two per cent of licensors’ research and development (R&D) projects to collaborative research involving Nigerian institutions.
Amandiobi said the initiative was designed to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported machinery, foreign technical personnel and offshore maintenance services.
She said continued reliance on foreign engineers for routine equipment servicing and troubleshooting had contributed to foreign exchange outflows, high production costs and factory downtime.
She added that the situation left Nigerian engineers underused and denied local engineering firms opportunities to develop technical expertise.
Amandiobi said the policy was not intended to discourage foreign investment, but to ensure technology agreements delivered measurable benefits to Nigeria’s domestic industrial sector.
She said the framework would build on NOTAP’s experience implementing a similar local vendor policy in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
Under the manufacturing policy, foreign licensors and original equipment manufacturers would engage accredited Nigerian engineering firms as technical partners, she said.
Local vendors would participate in equipment installation, maintenance, troubleshooting, fabrication of non-proprietary spare parts, industrial automation and technical training.
The policy also provides for collaboration among manufacturers, foreign technology providers and Nigerian research institutions, including the Project Development Institute (PRODA), she said.
Amandiobi said the collaboration would promote local raw-material substitution, reverse engineering, product development and adaptation of imported technologies.
She added that NOTAP would establish a database of accredited local engineering partners and monitor implementation through annual performance assessments, skills-transfer audits and expenditure reports.
She urged foreign technology providers to transfer practical skills and knowledge, and called on Nigerian manufacturers to invest in personnel, equipment and professional standards.
Also speaking, Charles Ozi, managing director of Rio Nun Ltd, described the policy as a framework for moving Nigeria towards technological self-reliance.
Ozi said factory operations were sometimes disrupted for weeks when imported equipment developed faults and manufacturers had to wait for foreign engineers and spare parts.
He noted that such delays increased production costs, drained foreign exchange and denied Nigerian engineers opportunities to develop their technical skills.
Ozi said the policy would expand the participation of Nigerian manufacturers and local vendors in industrial operations.
He explained that local manufacturers often paid licence and royalty fees to foreign companies for access to patented technologies.
NOTAP wanted to channel some of the value of those payments towards training and upgrading local manufacturers’ skills, he said.
This, he added, would enable local manufacturers to handle basic technical challenges without relying on foreign companies for services that did not require patented technologies.
