When FG refuses to read the signs of collapse
First it was obvious with the ban of 8-year-old and above cars in Nigeria that really didn’t encourage buying new cars. As a result, people believed more in Tokunbo cars and our roads are flooded with them along side break downs and revenue loss. Today, it is seen as a bad idea. Then that plan […]
First it was obvious with the ban of 8-year-old and above cars in Nigeria that really didn’t encourage buying new cars. As a result, people believed more in Tokunbo cars and our roads are flooded with them along side break downs and revenue loss. Today, it is seen as a bad idea. Then that plan was forgotten and pushed aside. By the time Barrack Obama became president of the United States and pumped in bail out money for its own automotive industries, GM Motors were already replenishing their lines with Compact cars like the Chevy, Cruze or Aveo . To quote a businessman, “the Chevrolet Aveo is a very strong small car”.
Even Ellen the DeGeneres Shoe was giving Chevy Cruzes to winners on their shows and promoting American airline as well.
Just recently our own Daily Trust carried the story of FG waiver over the importation of FBU cars into the country. It reported “The National Automotive Council (NAC) and stakeholders in the automobile industry in the country have condemned the current move by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment to grant a waiver to an Indian firm for the importation of Volkswagen products into the country.”
To make it worse, the source revealed an amount of 200,000 units. Somehow, the federal government didn’t hear PAN cries on the 5,000 workers job threat- were they asleep? To quote Reuben Abati formerly of The Guardian newspaper and now presidential spokesman, “The local industry also faces a credit crunch. But nothing signposts the crisis in Nigeria’s seemingly now non-existent automotive industry than the reports in the newspapers on Wednesday, April 1, that the Kaduna-based automotive company, Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) is in danger of collapse.”
From a record production of 264 cars per day in the 80s to a messily 22 cars per day in this 21st century; obviously a sick child needs attention and PAN and others in the automotive industry who bring jobs and revenue are not getting the attention they need.
As much as I have seen in the PAN industry, a lot is not utilized. While on the test track, a peep into the assembly house revealed fewer activities. Yet, this is one of Nigeria’s own that produces one of the best for Nigerian roads.
However, the problems in Nigeria’s automotive industry are far more complex; when power issues are solved we may have jumped over one hurdle out of ten or a hundred. On second thought, could other arms of the FG such as Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment be indicating to us that they are not interested in PAN Nigeria, NTM and other automotive industries?