The National Automotive and Design Development Council (NADDC) yesterday said the Council has partnered with the Bank of Industry (BoI), Jaiz Bank and stakeholders to finance the manufacturing of made-in-Nigerian vehicles.
The partnership should start to manifest in the next two months and allow Nigerians to put down 10 per cent or less for the purchase of new made-in-Nigeria. Other payments will be made over a number of years as opposed to the 28 per cent that was operational. This will spur local capacity and support the production of vehicles in the country.
Its Director-General, Aliyu Jelani told reporters during a media briefing that in other countries, people put down 15 per cent and drive off with the vehicle and pay after a number of years. This, he said, is technically non existence in the country.
He said: “Presently we are building three automotive test centres; we are about 85 per cent complete, we have one in Lagos to test emission, the second in Enugu to test components and the third in Zaria for materials. By the time this test centres are on line, any vehicle or components that is made, sold or brought into the country must be certified by NADDC before it can go on to the market. This is to ensure that Nigerians only have high standard of components.
“Nigerians face a lot of problems when something goes wrong with their vehicles. Most mechanics in Nigeria today are not qualified enough to diagnose the vehicles so the vehicle is either fixed or made worse, even when they understand what the problem is the parts itself are substandard. They either bring in brand new substandard or they may be either used parts.”
He said it was on this strength that the Council came into action and began to bring back car manufacturing. As a result of that Innosen sprung up, Hundai came into the country, Peugeot was revived.
Innosen he said is doing very well, the Nigerian Automobile Industry Bill NAIDC is working in towards discouraging importation and supporting local production as a result we now have a number of manufacturer’s and producers in Nigeria.
“We are all aware of the huge challenge we have with electricity, water and connectivity in Nigeria. The NAIDB also have what we call structure development. We are currently in the process of building three industrial parks in Kaduna, Oshogbo and Nnewi, the one in Nnewi is most advanced, we already have a master plan done, we are working with Bank of Industry, Jaiz Bank and a number of stakeholders, we have discussed with a lot of manufacturers who will plug in and play in such a place like Nnewi.”
Jelani said these are automotive industrial parks with the central location where all the necessary infrastructure will be provided, electricity, road structure, connectivity and water so that it will be easy for companies to come and set up shops.
