Kakatar Group Urges Govt to Patronise Indigenous Firms

Jaiyeola Andrews in Abuja

Kakatar Group, a Nigerian construction and engineering company, has tasked government at all levels to patronise indigenous construction firms as part of efforts to showcase made in Nigeria products to the outside world.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja shortly after the firm received an award of excellence from the Murya Magazine, the Chief Executive Officer, Barr. Babaola Robert said the essence of the award was about believing in Nigeria.

He promised that the award would spur the company to strive harder.

Robert, who was represented at the occasion by the Site Manager, Maitama District, Suleiman Hashim noted that indigenous companies are more determined to build the nation’s road networks.

“Going by international best practice, we (indigenous companies) are doing well, or even better than our foreign counterparts in the sector.

” Looking at the standards that we use for our clients- which are the British standard, even though I have argued it in many fora why should we even be using British standard in our clime, because the geology of the Great Britain is not the same thing as the geology of Nigeria.

“For me, I studied geology in Nigeria, I have better understanding of how to even manage the terrain- to put up structures in the condition, so that they will be firm enough.

“Our projects are out there for everyone to see.  We work with the clients, and we have the documents to prove that all the works we have done are in tandem with the geology of the area that we are building on.

“Therefore, Kakatar group is open for everybody to come and understand our level of professionalism and how much we are aiming to build up our Nigerian civil engineering sector.

“We have the manpower, the machinery and the technological-know-how to do and execute any kind of engineering works, to move the country forward” he said.

On the over N600billion debt owed construction companies by all tiers of government, Robert said the debt profile cut across all sectors of the economy.

“We know that Nigerians are very resilient people, and that cuts across every other sector of the country. If you go to every of our project sites, you will see that we are there working, because we also believe that we are building our home.

So, most times, we understand the challenges that the country is facing, and then try to give our best, to see that we build our country, because we don’t have any other place to go to.

“Therefore, we are one of the only companies who don’t have an option than to help build our own country” Robert averred.

Explaining the aim of the award, the publisher of Murya Magazine, Jamil Yusuf, said that it was “to celebrate outstanding individuals and institutions for their role in positively shaping Nigeria with sole aim of encouraging them to do more.”