Peugeot Announces Plan to Return to Nigeria

Buhari reiterates commitment to privatisation

Effort by President Muhammadu Buhari to attract foreign investors may have started yielding positive results as Peugeot announced plans to return to the country after the collapse of the privatisation of Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria Limited.

Peugeot’s Executive Vice-President for Africa and the Middle-East, Mr. Jean-Christophe Quemard, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday when he visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Garba Shehu.

According to the statement, President Buhari at the meeting said his administration remained committed to the federal government’s privatisation and commercialisation policy.

However, the president said that under his watch, greater consideration would be given to the technical and managerial competence of prospective buyers of government-owned companies.

Buhari said a higher premium would be placed on the technical competence and financial clout of bidders in future privatisation exercises to avoid the running aground of privatised companies by ill-equipped and incapable investors.

The president noted that privatisation could only succeed and yield desired benefits if buyers of government-owned companies possessed essential skills and resources.

Earlier, Quemard had assured Buhari that Peugeot was ready to reinvest in vehicle assembly in Nigeria, provided that the right indigenous partners were found.

The Peugeot Chief Executive for Africa and the Middle-East briefed Buhari on the company’s three-phased plan to resume vehicle assembly in Nigeria with 4,000 cars next year, rising up to 10,000 cars by 2021.

He said the plan, which he urged the federal government to support with appropriate policies and actions, would entail higher local content in the assembly of Peugeot cars in Nigeria and the exportation of locally assembled Peugeot cars from Nigeria to neighbouring African countries.

Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria Limited which was privatised some years ago had technically reverted to government ownership with up to 85 per cent of its shares now held by the federal government and the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON)