Excitement as Geely relaunches in Nigeria, names Coscharis Motors new partner

• Reps, NADDC teams visit Lagos assembly plant
• Coscharis set to roll out new models

For lovers of sleek Geely vehicles, it is exciting time again as Geely Auto International Corporation has officially announced Coscharis Motors as its new partner in Nigeria.

Coscharis Motors, which has thus become the exclusive franchise representative of the Geely brand in Nigeria, says it is  ready to roll out the latest Geely models into the Nigerian market very soon as well as grant opportunity for owners of old Geely cars to trade them in for brand new models.

Speaking on behalf of Geely in Lagos, Head of Geely Auto International Middle East/Africa Business Unit, Scofield Wu, said, “We have carefully re-selected our representative in Nigeria, because we are looking for a partner with strong pedigree in the automotive sector in Nigeria that can deliver our brand promise, this we got in Coscharis Motors.

“Coscharis Motors shares our belief that the Geely models are the perfect fits to mitigate customers’ budget constraint especially those who require automobiles that are durable, reliable, technologically driven and have best aftersales offerings.

“This shared passion, along with their excellent reputation in the automotive industry, makes it the perfect partnership for Geely Auto International in Nigeria.”

Commenting on this partnership, the President/CEO of Coscharis Group, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, said, “We are excited to celebrate the confidence that Geely Auto International has reposed in us to represent them in Nigeria. Geely Auto is in sync with Coscharis Motors towards ensuring our corporate brand promise to continue to create value for all our stakeholders.

“This milestone marks another step in the evolution of the company towards remaining timeless in its relevance.

“We are committed to broadening our dealership’s scope to the public, and believe the Geely Auto brand provides a capable, refined and reliable vehicle option to our customers, especially in this economically challenging times.”

He also said, “With our pedigree and experience of the Nigerian market, it is clear to us that the Geely Auto brand is what is needed today to bridge the gap between luxury and budget auto brands available in market.

“The models, especially the All New Starry and GX3 Pro are game-changers in their respective segments. These vehicles have what it takes to meet customers’ expectations satisfactorily, especially government and companies who are looking at their middle management team and fleet vis-à-vis their bottom-line.

“At Coscharis Motors, we are excited to re-launch the new Geely Coolray and Emgrand in addition to bringing the very newest models to Nigeria. We look forward to those existing and new customers because these models are definitely going to stir things up.”

The official announcement of Coscharis franchise came with the visit of members of the House of Representatives Committee on Industry who, as part of their oversight functions, had a facility tour of the Coscharis Assembly Plant located at the group head office in Lagos where the new Geely variants are being assembled.

Chairman of the Committee who led the delegation, Rt. Dr Enitan Badru, said, “Our visit to Coscharis Assembly Plant is to have an on-the-spot assessment of the plant for us to be able to know in specific terms where they need our interventions in terms of enacting relevant laws to protect such investment.

“This surely will help us legislate on every support required to encourage such local organisations to further invest in our Country towards achieving the best intentions of the government of the day.”

Similarly, the Director-General of National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) Joseph Osanipin, who was represented by the Director, Research and Development, Fidelis Achiv, who equally led his team to visit the Coscharis Assembly Plant, commended Coscharis on the assembly plant that has rolled out different brands and now delivering the Geely brand.

The agency promised to give all the necessary support to succeed in delivering the expected value for the country.

Group Managing Director of Coscharis Group, Mr. Josiah Samuel, who conducted the guests around the state-of-the-art assembly plant and the other facilities in the organization, declared that the plant could be compared to any global similar plant in the world.

He said, “With what you’ve seen here today, Coscharis has simply shown that if given the required support with the right conducive business environment, indigenous organizations like ours that have what it takes to compete in the global space will deliver world-standard vehicles going by our pedigree with globally respected automobile brands we represent in Nigeria.

“Coupled with the new Geely brand added to our robust portfolio, we believe our locally assembled Geely vehicles will do well in the Nigeria market.

“As an entity that believes in our country, Nigeria, we shall continue to do all in our space to sustain this local assembling of more brands from this plant as it also has the economic implications of creating more job opportunities both for skilled and unskilled labour that will definitely boost the country’s economy.”

The GMD of Coscharis said aside from delivering one of the unique selling propositions of buying a brand new Geely with a six-year warranty which is rare in the automotive sector, Coscharis Motors is set to embrace all the existing customers concerning their aftersales needs while offering them trade-in options, in order to facilitate easy ownership of the new or latest models.

According to Coscharis, in a statement by its Abiona Babarinde, Group General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Communications, now that the agreement with Geely Auto International has been sealed and delivered, it “will focus on readying its dedicated Geely Auto showroom across Nigeria with the first bases in Victoria Island, Lagos and Central Business District, Abuja, while the service workshop is set at Ikeja, Lagos.

“The interesting news for our customers is that these vehicles are now available with us to delight the Nigerian market,” the statement added.

Naira trades at N1,730/$ in parallel market

The Naira yesterday appreciated to N1,730 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,735 per dollar on Monday.

Similarly, the Naira appreciated to N1,678.93 per dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEM.

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Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for NAFEM fell to N1,678.93 per dollar from N1,690.37 per dollar on Monday, indicating N11.44 appreciation for the naira.

Consequently, the margin between the parallel market and NAFEM rate widened to N51.07 per dollar from N44.63 per dollar on Monday.

Naira trades at N1,730/$ in parallel market

NERC warns DisCos against estimated billing

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday warned electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) not to forcefully migrate customers with faulty meters to estimated billing regime.

The warning came as the regulator reiterated its directive that the DisCos owe the obligation to replace faulty and old meters at no cost to customers.

 Also, some customers yesterday bemoaned what they described as a ploy by the DisCos to frustrate customers into accepting estimated billing by surreptitiously denying them access to reload energy credits.

In a statement yesterday, NERC stated that it had been notified that the DisCos were instructing customers to apply and make payments for the replacement of spoilt and obsolete meters in their franchise areas.

The regulator noted that such instruction by DisCos contravened the Commission’s Order No. NERC/246/2021on the Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete end-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

The statement reads: “The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission is aware that some Distribution Companies (DisCos) have instructed customers to apply and pay for the replacement of faulty and obsolete meters within their franchise areas.

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“This instruction contravenes the Commission’s Order No. NERC/246/2021 on the Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete end-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.”

NERC reiterated that that no customer with a meter should be forcefully migrated to estimated billing.

According to the regulator, if  any customer’s meter is adjudged by any DisCo to be obsolete or faulty, it is the responsibility of the DisCo to replace the meter free of charge, provided that the fault was not caused by the customer.

NERC restated its commitment to protect customers’ interests and rights by ensuring compliance with established regulatory standards and enforcing regulatory penalties for non-compliance by its licensees.

It urged the customers to report cases of non-compliance to its order by any DisCo through its designated channels.

Some consumers of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) and Ikeja Electric (IE), yesterday lamented their inability to load electricity tokens on their meters.

The situation has left several consumers stranded. A consumer on Lawanson, Surulere, under EKEDC, Cecilia Nwadie, said that several attempts to load her energy token in the last two days had been futile.

The effect of this is that she and her family has remained without power supply.

She said: “I tried to load my meter, but it failed. All that the meter indicated to me was “CALL”. When I eventually called EKEDC customer care, I was told that the meter has expired and that I should apply for another meter”.

For IE customers, it was mixed fortune. While some said they were able to load their tokens after several attempts, others insisted they have been unable to log onto the website provided by the utility for updates before the November 14 deadline.

An angry consumer of IE who identified himself as Ladi Ogundele, alleged that the ploy of the utility is to ensure consumers are placed on estimated billing just to exploit them.

He explained that the insistence of IE that consumers must pay for meter replacement even after a contrary directive by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and NERC is an indication that the game plan of the utility is to exploit customers.

The DisCo had been silent since the regulators wade in to ensure adherence to the rules.

“I think this is an acid test for both FCCPC and NERC. If they allow the DisCos to get away with this apparent disregard for customers, then both agencies of government would have failed,” Ogundele said.

NERC warns DisCos against estimated billing