Some auto experts have poured scorn on the current state of automobile assembly plants in the country, about four years after the introduction of a policy by the Federal Government aimed at making Nigeria a major vehicle producing nation.
An automobile expert, Dr. Oscar Odiboh, said many of the automobile assembly plants operating in Nigeria were below standard and might not take the industry anywhere.
The Covenant University lecturer, who spoke at a transport forum in Lagos on Friday, also called on local vehicle assemblers to focus on the production of budget cars, adding that only the availability of affordable new vehicles could halt the growth of the used vehicle market.
This view was also echoed by the Chairman, Naja, an auto forum, Frank Kintum, who stressed the need to rejig the auto policy in order to accelerate the development of the industry.
The National Automotive Design and Development Council, the government’s agency implementing the policy, recently said 53 auto assembly plants had been approved to operate in the country, many of which were already running.
Although the council said the installed production capacity of the auto assembly plants had hit 408,870 automobiles, only 10,673 vehicles were assembled at the end of 2016. Local automakers have been complaining of poor patronage of the vehicles coming from their factories, a situation that has reportedly slowed down their operations.
Odiboh said almost mid-term into the 10-year plan of the auto policy, most of the local assembly plants lacked the standards to compete globally.
“What we have at the moment are not real assembly plants; they are glorified joineries. About 65 per cent of our assembly operations are manual; and 70 per cent of their employees are casual,” he stated.
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