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...Seeks review of Auto Policy to meet current realities
The Managing Director of KIA Motors Nigeria, Jacky Hathiramani, has applauded the recent appointment of Mr. Jelani Aliyu as the Director-General of National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC). He described Aliyu, whose appointment has also been hailed by all key stakeholders in the industry, as perfect for the job.
Hathiramani, who expressed his happiness over Aliyu’s appointment in a statement issued in Lagos this Friday, also praised the Federal Government of Nigeria for bringing in experts with track record of excellent contributions to the automobile design and manufacturing in the world to strengthen the policy framework. According to him, this move will institutionalise local production of automobiles in the country.
Hathiramani said: “The outstanding resume of Mr. Jelani points to the fact that the federal government is committed towards the development of automotive manufacturing in Nigeria.
“With Mr. Jelani’s international experience, we are confident that he will charge the Council to fully realise its objectives of providing a policy framework that will set the industry on the path of development and help it contribute its quota towards the industrialisation of the Nigerian economy as evident in other economies.”
Hathiramani therefore joined other stakeholders in urging the new Director General to take a critical look at the present state of the industry, pleading with him to build on the gains of the auto policy and further take the implementation of the policy as a priority.
According to the KIA boss, “the auto policy has reeled in some appreciable gains, bringing to the fore local production of automobiles in the country as many a new car sold in Nigeria today are locally assembled.”
He added that “ consequently, we need to further strengthen the policy by reviewing it to meet the current realities and position the locally produced cars as one of Nigeria’s best export to sub-Saharan Africa. ”
There is no doubt that Aliyu has positioned Nigeria as one of the countries with highly skilled professionals in the automotive engineering in recent time. His appointment has therefore reinstated the confidence of the stakeholders that the government is on the path of developing the automobile industry and making the country the industrial hub for car manufacturing in Africa.
They are therefore expecting so much expectation from the engineer based on his enviable contribution to the automotive industry on the global space.
With a number of assembly plants in Nigeria today, the production capacity of these plants are over 380,000 units per annum, this is primarily the gains from the auto policy. However, the recent news emerging from the automobile companies are pointing to the fact that the manufacturing plants’ capacity is underutilised as a result of the record low sales of cars in the last one year.
While it’s evident that the economic recession is a major challenge in the low sales, stakeholders have also listed other salient factors contributing to the staggered development of the industry.
Hathiramani therefore posited that for the industry to be rid of substandard cars and contribute immensely to the GDP of the country, the influx of imported used cars should be controlled.
On the point raised by customers that their interest in used cars is premised on the cost of new cars, he charged the new Director General to facilitate one of the cardinal points of the policy that made provision for partnership with financial institutions in offering low interest rate car acquisition schemes for the populace to make their owning new cars preferable option to the imported used cars.
On the local content utilisation in the production of cars, Hathiramani explained that the manufacturing of automobile is centered on many an ancillary company that produce some of the parts for the cars like batteries, leather/fabric for car seats, bolts and nuts, amongst others.
Thus, the establishment of these ancillary companies are directly proportional to the market volume and the demand for new cars can increase when there are affordable finance schemes and a reduction in the importation of used cars.
He stated further, “When affordable new cars are accessible to Nigerians, the local production will grow and have a direct impact on the setting up of ancillary industries. This will, in turn, provide large-scale employment, increase the internally generated revenue for the government, and help in diversifying the economy, amongst other gains.”
Undoubtedly, the automobile industry has remained one of the highest contributors to the global economy and serves as a fulcrum for the industrialisation of countries the world over.
The NADDC , being the think-tank and at the core of the automobile industry in Nigeria, therefore needs to be at the fore of advancing the industry by providing actionable policy frameworks that will usher in a systemic and holistic structural development of the automobile industry in Nigeria.
