NADDC DG urges MDAs, govt contractors to buy Nigeria-assembled vehicles

Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr Jelani Aliyu, has called on government ministries, departments and agencies to buy vehicles assembled in Nigeria as their official cars and operational activities.

He also asked private firms executing government contracts to use Nigeria-assembled vehicles for the projects.

This, he said, was in line Executive Orders 3 and 5 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He spoke in an interview on an NTA Network Service programme monitored in Lagos, adding that such continued patronage would go a long way in creating more jobs and boosting business of existing auto assembly plants and industrialisation in Nigeria.

According to him, Nigeria’s assembly plants have installed capacity for 400,000 vehicles annually.

He said the nation’s auto policy introduced in 2013 to encourage local production of vehicles was on course.

His said, “We are generally implementing the National Automotive Industry Development Plan and I think it is very important to set some facts straight. The industry has come a long way. It is succeeding and will continue to succeed.

“We additionally call on government agencies to also patronise vehicles made in Nigeria. We also call on companies, especially those working on government contracts and projects to purchase vehicles made in Nigeria. We believe this will go a long way in unlocking the potential of the country. But the capacity to build 100,000 vehicles in Nigeria already exists.”

The NADDC boss said the sector had recorded exponential growth in the last few years.

He said, “The industry has come a long way. It is succeeding and will continue to succeed. Let us look at where we were in the 70’s and 80’s. The industry was looking up. Then in 1986, the price of crude oil crashed from 24 dollars per barrel to below 10 dollars per barrel. At that time, that was the one commodity that Nigeria was still dependent on; it sent Nigeria into recession.

“People could no longer buy those Peugeots and Volkswagens; they had to close shop and leave. The Federal Government said that wouldn’t be allowed to happen. So the NAIDP implementation began. The NADDC is championing that policy.

“When we talk about automotive policy, it has yielded results; that is why we have over one billion dollars invested in Nigeria by many companies in Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Kano and many other places.

“These companies are actively producing quite a number of vehicles. We have a whole lot more than six companies that are actively operating in Nigeria.”

He however stated that the challenge being faced remained the market.

He said, “It takes certain measures for the market to really grow. We need vehicle financing; we need the economy itself to grow and it has continued to grow because you are talking about the purchasing power of the average Nigerian that needs to grow.”

He said the auto industry in Nigeria could not be divorced from the global economic forces, adding,

“Just like the price of crude oil depends on global forces, so also the price of various components used in producing a vehicle.

“There is a certain level of affordability that you cannot go below. But yet there are companies who have invested in Nigeria; invested in producing vehicles. These vehicles are available for purchase,” Aliyu stated.