Published Article

ABSTRACT
Nigeria’s construction industry, which gulps over 80 percent of the capital budget of all tiers of
government, had been dominated by expatriate companies since independence. This study
therefore aims at finding out the extent of the relevance of local content in the construction
industry in Akwa Ibom State. Four specific objectives and three null hypotheses were formulated
to guide the study. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study with sample drawn
from all the built industry professionals ranging from: surveyors to architects, planners as well
as engineers (civil, electrical, structural and mechanical) in Akwa Ibom State. Questionnaires
were used to elicit the responses of 125 respondents using simple random sampling technique.
The data so collected was subjected to statistical analysis with the use of descriptive statistics
and regression analysis to answer the research question and test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha
level. The result of the study showed that local contents have remarkable relevance in the
construction industry. The results also showed that the extent of success in projects execution
and completion significantly depends on local content involvement in the construction industry,
pre-qualification conditions and application of sustainable business model. One of the
recommendations was that government should endeavour to check the inconsistencies in the
local content act, sincerely respecting the local content blueprint and follow it carefully,
especially in the awards of contracts and other projects in the building industry.
KEYWORDS: Local Content, Construction Industry, Pre-Qualification Conditions,
Sustainable Business Model