Lagos – It has been revealed that the N2.5trn investments by automobile assembly plants in Nigeria may go down the drain, following the failure of the Federal Government to give assent to the National Automotive Industry Development Programme (NAIDP) Bill presented to it by the National Assembly.
This much was revealed over the weekend in Lagos by Dr. Oscar Odiboh, an Automotive Communication Consultant, Nigeria in a paper, ‘Zero Patronage, Zaro Tariff and the Redefinition of Patriotism: A Look at Nigeria’s Automobile Industry,’ at an event organised by automotive stakeholders in Lagos.
Odiboh in the paper regretted that since the policy was introduced in 2014, Nigerian Government had not showed the zeal to make it work, rather the government had been inconsistent with the same policy, an act, which he said was gradually killing the industry.
As at present, there are 40 assembly plants in Nigeria with many of them investing billions of naira.
Odiboh decried that former President Goodluck Jonathan, who introduced the policy through the Nigerian National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), declined to give his assent to the bill before handing over power to President Muhammadu Buhari, while the incumbent a few weeks ago also refused to give assent to the same bill.
He warned that the refusal of the government to give assent to the bill may eventually lead to the collapse of the automobile industry in the country in the next few years.
Odiboh, therefore, advised the Federal Government to drop the policy since it never had confidence in it, stressing that some people in the automobile industry were also not comfortable with the policy.
He explained that since the policy was introduced five years ago, only handful genuine automobile plants were working in the country, while many others were in comatose.
He emphasised that five years cumulative installed capacity for the 40assmebly plants was supposed to be 450,000 vehicles, with 15,000 output.
He added that the average cumulative annual capacity was to be 90,000 vehicles with an average annual output at 375 vehicles, adding that average annual capacity per assembly was to be 2,250 vehicles, but decried that an average annual output per assembly in the country today was just 10 units.
He added: “To make matter worse, the government didn’t budget for acquisition of vehicles in the 2019 budget. As we all know, government is our major client in the industry. This will further add to drop in sales in the financial year.
“In the past five years that the government came out with the policy, 23,000 jobs have been lost in the sector, yet we don’t seem to be doing anything. The government should just drop the policy once and for all because it has refused to sign it into law.
“The government should allow the automobile assembly plants to evolve by themselves. This was what happened in the 1960s. The government should only play its own role by creating a conducive environment for the business to thrive.”
Odiboh, also advised the NADDC to restrict itself to design, development of infrastructure and campaigns on patriotic patronage of made in Nigeria vehicles. There can’t be patriotic without patronage. Government should buy from the auto assembly plants in the country.”
The post N2.5trn Investments In Danger Over Non-Assent To Automobile Policy Bill appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Source: Independent
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