Challenge of revamping Nigeria’s auto industry
The fortunes of the local automobile industry in Nigeria have been on a downward slide over the years fuelled by vehicle and spare parts imports.
The result has been huge capital flight out of the country with the resultant implication on job creation and loss to economy.
The National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) estimated that up to 2015, Nigeria imported about 400,000 vehicles valued at $4.2 billion annually, made up of 100,000 new vehicles and 300,000 used ones (also called tokumbo).
The council estimates that the automobile import market in Nigeria is worth $6.5 billion annually, and this is the amount of money Nigeria can save if the local industry is fully developed and import ceases.
However, imports of spare parts, including sub-standard ones, and finished vehicles have continued to impact negatively on the industry.
Recently, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, visited the Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company in Nnewi, Anambra State, as part of the federal government’s efforts at promoting made-in-Nigeria products, with emphasis on locally manufactured or assembled vehicles.
“Innoson Company is a trail blazer in the automotive industry, and a shining example of what Nigeria is capable of achieving if it looks inwards and taps into the boundless energy and ingenuity of its people,” he said.
In 10 years the company has manufactured over 10,000 vehicles, employed over 7,000, and has markets covering over 25 African countries.
This is to show that if Nigeria looks inward, the challenges of the auto industry in the country can be solved and the nation can build a thriving local auto industry that is competitive in the global market.
It is in the spirit of building a competitive local auto industry that the present government sourced and hired the General Motors lead exterior designer, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, to head the auto industry in Nigeria.
Aliyu, who is reputed to have designed General Motors’ popular Chevrolet Volt, is expected as the new Director-General (DG) of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) to evolve new strategies of solving the challenges bedeviling the auto industry in Nigeria.
For instance, the auto policy implementation in the country has been neither here nor there and the test centre for the country has remained a hard nut to crack.
Speaking upon resuming office recently, Aliyu acknowledged that the prospect of the auto industry in the country is high.
“Any country with a population of over 180 million is serious business. My objective with the NADDC is to contribute to the success of this magnificent nation; to reach out and positively touch as many lives as possible as we enable access to attainable, effective and exciting transportation solutions that will add significant value and enable economic growth to every man, woman and child,” he said.
The NADDC new boss said Nigeria has to choose from two alternatives: to maintain the mundane status quo, inch along and be left behind as every other country speeds by taking millions around the world out of poverty, or to strategize and boldly reach for the stars.
He said his strategy would be to empower talented youth with the necessary professional training in contemporary automotive design and development, leveraging the most sophisticated technology, so they will innovate, design and develop automotive and transportation solutions that are in tune with culture, climate, geography and economic structure.
“Our manufacturing stakeholders must be encouraged and supported to leverage advanced technology in providing the most applicable, safest, most durable and cost- effective vehicles. The NADDC is committed to identifying progressive technical partners and investors from around the world who can work with us to develop the automotive sector potential in Nigeria,” he said.
While these innovations are being brought to the table to solve the challenges of the moribund auto industry in Nigeria, consideration must be given to low patronage and Nigeria’s taste for imported exotic cars.
The Chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Co Ltd, Chief Dr. Innocent Chukwuma, during the visit by the information minister, lamented low patronage and government’s preference for imported vehicles.
However, Aliyu believes that as Nigeria designs quality vehicles, taste for imported brands will change towards locally produced vehicles.