Chris Uba took our research team into the automobile industry factories and sales rooms and what they discovered was a shocker. Based on the expectations arising from the efforts the workers and managers at Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) have displayed at their Nnewi industrial fields, some kilometers away from Africa’s biggest market and craft hub called Onitsha, their findings were really entrigueing The plant which has continued to grow over the years is a potpourri of various automobile works and motor components, whose only foreign input is the engine which has been specially designed for the firm. This has offered the company the flexibility to operate and the lee-way to concentrate on the design of all other parts of the vehicles, indicating a very high caliber and dose of its local semi-knocked-down content, believed to have been inching to over 85%, indicating an availability of products that can be freely addressed as indigenously produced Nigerian vehicle. In this report, we explain to you how the company has become the most popular indigenous car brand as well as recording the highest sales and also known as the second largest selling vehicle in Nigeria, only after a global automobile brand, Toyoto. There are very strong indications that if the Nigerian government offers the motor firm any tangible business support, the brands will become the biggest competing brands with Toyota, Nigeria’s popular imported car brand.
Perhaps, one of the things that can be said about the sluggish growth of the nation’s local automotive industry is that the government has not deemed it very necessary to enliven the sector to optimize its capacity. The recent performance of the indigenous vehicles manufacturer is an indication that, if the right environment is provided and government living up to its billing, the country would achieve its quest for economic Eldorado; It will be among the first to achieve Africa’s Agenda 2063. But this milestone will only be attained if the government is sincerely committed to the upgrade of the anticipated support for optimal performance. For the first time in many decades, an indigenous vehicle manufacturing company recorded a sterling performance in the local automobile market in Nigeria. In fact, for many years, no local automobile assembly plant has been able to outshine its foreign counterparts in the Nigerian market. Recently, the Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its 2024 half-year report, noted that an indigenous automobile manufacturer, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) brand, is the second most purchased vehicles in the country. For the Chairman/CEO of the vehicle plant, Mr Innoson Chukwuma, this feat does not bother him one bit as he feels that more astonishing developments will soon emerge, considering the strategic growth inputs that have been aggregated for the future. Today, a very huge acre of land is hosting an extension of the main factory where he believes the growing demand for a new capacity for the large Nigerian and west African market will be produced.
The report showed that in a total of 3,469 new vehicles purchased from three brands comprising Toyota, Innoson and Hyundai in the first six months of the year, buyers took 1,160 vehicles from Innoson, 1,335 from Toyota and 974 from Hyundai to rank the first three most patronized brands in the country. According to NBS, IVM maintained its position among the top three most purchased cars in Nigeria despite the declining real growth rate of the motor vehicle and assembly sector which contracted by 151% between first and second quarters of the year. The company has continued to forge forward despite the prevailing excruciation business environment in the country, indicating that it could do better if the right environment is provided.
IVM came into the vehicle manufacturing from a humble beginning, having launched into the industry in 2007. According to the company, 70% of its car parts is produced locally, while the outstanding is sourced from Japan, China, and Germany. Among IVM’s vehicle models are the five-seater Fox (1.5-litre engine) and Umu (2-litre engine) as well as the mini-bus Uzo. The company made history late in November 2014, when it unveiled 500 made-in-Nigeria cars, built at its plant in Umudim, Nnewi, Anambra State, thus becoming the first indigenous manufacturer to achieve this milestone. The vehicles – the IVM Fox hatchback and the IVM Umu saloon cars – are built mainly with local content and are priced lower than imported brands. The Fox, a five-seater, is powered by a 1.5 litre engine, and comes with a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual transmission gear box, while the bigger and more executive Umu has a 2.0 litre engine.
Early September, IVM launched its first locally produced electric vehicle manufactured at its state-of-the-art production facility in Nnewi, marking a significant advancement in the country’s automotive sector. The initial batch of IVM electric cars were completely sold out. The company has received hundreds of calls and upfront payment from interested clients who want to be the first set to drive the Innoson Electric Vehicle.
IVM brand’s sterling performance follows the decrease in the volume of imported vehicles in the period under review. Reports revealed significant drop in vehicle
importation into Nigeria, decreasing by 60 %. Vehicle imports dropped from 45,000 units between January and June 2023 to just 18,000 units during the same period in 2024. This decline is attributed to various factors, including high import duties, taxes on used vehicles, and the imposition of an import levy on used vehicles. The current exchange rate for the clearance of imported cargoes at seaports stands at N1, 512.21 per dollar, while the official exchange rate at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) is N1, 509.67.
The General Manager of Port and Terminal Multiservice Limited (PTML), Tunde Keshinro, is said to have confirmed the drop in vehicle importation, attributing it to the restriction of rebates on ex-factory prices used for assessing import duty to 10 years instead of the 12 years allowed by law. This restriction forces vehicles older than 10 years to pay higher import duties, thus giving credence to the September NBS report, which says that Nigeria’s trade surplus widened to an all-time high of N4128 billion in June 2024, up from N1039billion in the corresponding month of the previous year. Exports jumped approximately 164% year-on-year to an all-time high of N7281 billion, boosted by shipments of energy (+1013%), crude oil (+154%), agricultural goods (+170%), raw materials (102%) and manufactured goods (48%).
According to the NBS report, “the value of total imports stood at N12.47trillion in the second quarter of 2024, representing a decrease of 10.71 per cent compared with the value recorded in first quarter, 2024 (N13.97trillion) and a rise of 97.93 % from the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2023 (N6.3trillion).” NBS noted that surplus which marks a 6.60 % increase from the previous quarter, reflects the country’s strong export performance amidst a slight decline in overall merchandise trade. It stated further that the total merchandise trade in second quarter 2024 stood at N31.89trillion, representing a 3.76 % decline compared to the preceding quarter but was a 150.39 % rise from the corresponding period in 2023.
So, the trade surplus registered in the period under review can be explained majorly by the prevailing foreign exchange challenge among others in the country. Mr Kayode Farinto, Managing Director of Wealthy Honey Investment, a clearing and forwarding company, corroborated the drop in vehicle importation, when he reportedly noted a 55% decline. He also reported a 30% drop in container imports and a 20 % decline in bulk cargo.
“In the last few months, there has been a significant drop in the volume of cargo in the country due to the instability of the exchange rate,” Farinto said, adding that “the situation has not been very rosy for us in the industry, particularly the freight forwarders. We are not faring well. Many have left the job, some remain hopeful for better days, and sadly, we have lost some members.”
Farinto predicted that the volume of imports would continue to decline unless the exchange rate stabilized. He called for a predictive exchange rate specifically for Customs purposes and suggested a tripartite meeting between the Central Bank of Nigeria, Customs, and the Ministry of Finance to address the issue. This position appears to be corroborated by the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs (CGC), Mr Adewale Adeniyi, who disclosed that vehicle importation dropped by 45 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, due to foreign exchange challenges in the country. He said that the period was very critical for Nigerians and businesses in general because of the volatility in the exchange rates.
According to Adeniyi, “It affected car dealers. We had as much as a 45 per cent decrease in the volume of cars that were brought into Nigeria in that period. “And they were not the kind of cars that fetched optimum revenue for the customs. Not only cars, but even regular imports were also affected because people could no longer import raw materials as they wanted and the volatility did not allow them to plan for tomorrow. He expressed optimisms that things had started picking up in the second quarter of the year, saying, “but we see some relative degree of stability in the second quarter because there are lots of discussions going on. Some at the level of the National Assembly, most of them spearheaded by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, bring on the stakeholders that are involved together, to ensure that we achieve stability.”
Appropriately referred to by industry admirers as ‘the man who saw tomorrow’, Innoson Chukwuma, CEO and President of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company started the manufacturing of vehicles to hedge the fallout of the Structural Adjustment Programme in Nigeria, just like he muted the arrival of gas powered vehicles (CNG) to Nigerians long before it became a serious alternative in Nigeria. His efforts can be identified as focused investments on innovations. With the slogan, “Innoson Vehicles, the pride of African roads”, new innovations could be on the way even as his indication that gas powered vehicles are rearing to go, ideas not yet thought of in the global automobile industry would begin to manifest soon if government’s incentives and opportunities will incubate the industry to create more space for his creative cerebral powers.
Over the years, efforts by African entrepreneurs to come up with indigenous vehicles that can fly Africa’s flag to her markets have been quite illusive, even as many rich and well exposed big business names had reverberated African spaces. The expectation that indigenous car companies with over 80% local content would be possible abound, but nothing happened as African countries continued to be mere sales points and assembling spots for many brands. This activity which was very unfavourable to the growth of the African economy had remained largely patronized by top African businessmen who could not summon courage to initiate the move for a sustainable technology transfer. The development has become very uninspiring as Africa became one of the largest car markets in the world for products whose value-chain is negative due to the fact that all the vehicle components have been manufactured overseas and packed in cartons for the African destination. The very astonishing development about the dumping of foreign vehicles in Africa is that it was a complete discouragement to skills acquisition, it does not encourage the use of locally designed materials like steel, cables and wire, plastics and rubbers as well as glasses and rubber, all of which are cheaply produced in Nigeria. Added to this, the absence of these services has rendered African economy uninvolved in the huge employment that would have been created by other companies that could be suppliers to the vehicle firm. The fact remains that the foreign vehicle firms in African quietly ate their cakes and had them; they owned the firms, they brought the skills, they brought their finished products and they brought their men to fix them. Our men only bought them, apparently they had no choice.
The poor value-creation from the booming car business must has spurred this young Nigerian businessman, who began to think out of the box from his flourishing automobile accessories sales venture. His courage to create a whirlwind in the vehicles manufacturing trade has not only impressed many in Africa, especially the West African region, but has generated strong debates on what to do with his ingenuity which could be a huge new industrial discovery for Africa. Growing sequentially, from small cars to big ones, complicated models, to new technology applications and now to CNG, the time has really come for an explosion of this artistry into many African markets. This becomes very necessary based on the cost efficiency it guarantees all African countries, emerging markets and poor economies and the advantage of its design for the temperate and tropical environments.
A visit to the production plant located in Nnewi, Nigeria’s ‘Motor Town’ in the South East Nigeria reveals the hidden industrial complex from where so many vehicle brands and accessories factories are made. In all these, only the vehicle engines, gear boxes are imported from some of the biggest vehicle manufacturing companies in the world. Apart from the engine components all the many other components are produced in his company in Nigeria, as specially designed engineering structures. The expansive industrial outlay is a town on its own which the owner, Innocent Chukwuma, said is still work-in-progress as new dreams for car development come into his brain in seconds and are being translated into life frequently. This must have been influenced by the fact that many vehicle types are needed on daily basis for use, a lot of which have remained largely unaffordable by many countries or governments in Africa. For instance the costs of Fire fighting vehicles, refuse disposal trucks, luxury transport buses, mini buses, cars of all kinds, long non-body vehicles and the rest cost so much. In his plant provisions abound for the production of all types en mass and on request.
His success story in his chosen industry cannot be imagined considering his effortless analysis of the state of the Nigerian economy and how it can be made better. His postulations on the Nigerian economy remain very logical when considered along the lines of the current state of the Nigerian economy and the entire Africa at large. He is of the opinion that foreign exchange in Nigeria can only be conserved through the encouragement of local manufacturing where the produce can also be exported to earn more forex from activities that have a very high local content. He also noted that it is only the use of local raw materials in production on some heavy engineering needs that the very high costs associated with so many products in Nigeria can be reduced drastically. To him, business growth is more about focus and innovation. He also feels that manufacturers should be targeting Africa-for-Africa as a sustainable drive that can promote proper economic integration; like having a hub for shipping and linking the major hinterlands with train for proper distribution of products exported intra-Africa. He noted that what happens now is that when you ship a product from Nigeria to South Africa, the goods must first go to Europe before getting to South Africa, which means that apart from the long time that will be involved, the cost will still be very high because of the merry-go-round involved.
He awakened the country’s response to the CNG response and has actually started assembling before the government came into it with its usual mercantile input instead of encouraging the innovators at home to expand the new idea which would at the same time encourage a huge number of unemployed Nigerians. According to him, the demand for CNG is now so high and he is piloting more demands from various users. The ‘secret’ behind the speed at which Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company (IVM), Nnewi beat other brands to line up hundreds of locally manufactured compressed natural gas (CNG) buses for delivery to customers following the removal of fuel subsidy on May 29, has been revealed by the Chairman of Innoson Group, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, who said in an interview at his auto plant in Nnewi, that , long before the electioneering campaign (during which most of the Presidential candidates vowed to end subsidy) and even before the declaration by the President, that “subsidy had gone”, he had known that high pump price of petrol and diesel would shift demand to vehicles running on natural gas.
Chwkwuma disclosed that he benefitted from his own foresight, “My vehicle manufacturing factory is about 15 years today. I diversified into producing CNG vehicles two years ago when I knew that someday soon, fuel price would go up. I knew right from the beginning that government must remove subsidy which would eventually increase the pump price of fuel. I started planning by buying the equipment. That was why I was able to produce so many units immediately the fuel subsidy was removed by the government. If you go to places like Benin republic, 80 per cent of the vehicles they are using are CNG- powered. They have tested CNG and it’s working very fine for them over there. So, I believe in the nearest future, all Nigerians will embrace CNG vehicles, because they are not just very affordable, but using them also leads to low maintenance costs. “That was why I started the production in time, in fact, before everybody, and we are doing well. Now, we are converting petrol/diesel vehicles for people that are using our own (Innoson) vehicles. After some time, when our own vehicles have been covered, we can then start converting vehicles for other people,” he said.
He said he was sure the withdrawal of subsidy was going to raise the pump price of petrol so high that many would switch to CNG, which according to him, is cheaper and environmentally friendly. “That was my own thinking before I started to develop CNG. I knew it was the way forward, and that government must eventually remove the subsidy on fuel. Today, they have done it. It was a big surprise to many that I started manufacturing the alternative CNG buses and cars even before the subsidy was removed. But, there is nothing there. It was just that I had the foresight to calculate what the fuel price would be in future; believing that when the pump price goes too high up, the alternative would be CNG vehicles.
So, I went straight and started producing CNG vehicles. Now, I make vehicles that can use CNG and petrol or diesel. In some places, CNG is not available. In such situations, the alternative can be serving them. When CNG is available everywhere, I will make all the engines to be CNG-powered only. Now we are doing engines that can be CNG, fuel or diesel-powered. The price is also very cheap,” Chukwuma noted.
The difference between CNG and the other sources of fuel is very clear and far apart. So, today, following subsidy withdrawal, people no longer fuel their vehicles as they used to because of the harsh economic condition in the country. That is why I believe that if government gives some kind of incentive to companies like Innoson, we can build CNG conversion centres everywhere in Nigeria, so that everybody can embrace CNG and enjoy the huge benefits. “Many Nigerians are using my vehicles. We have a lot of our CNG vehicles in Edo state and other places, and they are happy with their performance. I am encouraged. People are giving us a lot of support. Many people are no longer ready to buy imported vehicles anymore, except Innoson vehicles. They believe that if they continue to buy Innoson vehicles, the company will employ more Nigerians and people will be more secured in their jobs. Even though ours are not perfect, they prefer using it with the anticipation that after sometime, what is good will even be better. I believe our own is still good enough. ..”, he emphasized.
He said he was conscious of the need to use his manufacturing companies to keep the youths busy, and away from crime: “Sometimes when we want to procure certain equipment, we need, we usually buy the manual (instead of the automated version) so as to employ more Nigerians to man them. It is not as if the automatic machines cannot work here, but we are conscious of the need to create jobs. I buy manual so that more people can get involved in the production. There was a belt we were supposed to buy: We needed the automatic version, but we bought the manually operated one and that is the difference between my factory and others’.
Instead of using some automatic equipment, we use people to do the job. I am interested that our people are employed and kept busy. Keeping the young ones busy helps the society and it is very important. If the youths are not busy, there will be problems. So we are creating jobs to keep them busy. That is the way forward”.
Chukwuma reacted to the specific mention of 20-seater CNG buses in the broadcast by the President saying, “any size of bus that Nigeria wants, we have the capacity to produce them here in Nnewi. We have the capacity to produce 120-seater, 20-seater or 10-seater bus models. The important thing is to give them what they want. We produce bus variants from 7-seater to 60-seater, (the latter with provisions for standing passengers). So, it all depends on what you want. We also produce cars, SUVs, and MPVs powered by CNG.” Dr. Chukwuma also spoke on the high cost of converting vehicles from consuming petrol or diesel to CNG: “Conversion is very high now and before the cost will come down government has to come. Before the cost will come down, there is need for an investment which requires government support. With such investment, the cost of conversion to CNG can be reduced to N300, 000. Presently, the company has assembled over 300 units of CNG for assorted vehicles, and more are being put together.
On what his company is doing to make rechargeable facilities available to users of CNG cars, Chukwuma noted that, “the solution to electric vehicles is the local production of the batteries here in Nigeria. Without producing the batteries locally, electric vehicles will remain expensive. First of all, we need investments in battery production. When we manufacture it here, the cost of electric vehicles will come down. Importing the batteries will make the vehicles expensive and nobody will like to put 50 percent of the vehicle cost to buy the battery alone. Instead, they will prefer to buy petrol or diesel-powered vehicles. Don’t forget that after four years, electric vehicles users will have to change the battery and buy a new one. Electric vehicles are good, but not yet for Africa, I don’t think it will go far for now. This is because when you buy an electric vehicle, a major component in the vehicle, like the battery, will no longer be usable after four years. The battery will die after four years, and most of them are like that. The solution is, therefore, local production of batteries. Producing the batteries in Nigeria will considerably reduce the price, so that even when it is to replaced every four years, it won’t impose a huge financial burden on the owner. The best type of vehicles that suits the Nigerian situation today is the CNG. It will be better and cheaper when we produce the CNG (gas) bottles here. But if you import the bottles to use in manufacturing CNG vehicles, the price of the vehicle will be very high. When the gas bottles are imported, conversion from petrol/diesel to CNG will not be less than N800,000. But producing the bottles here in Nigeria will crash the conversion cost to N300,000. To set up such investment is very expensive. So I strongly feel that government must make some initial investments to encourage the energy transition. Government needs to look into this challenge with a view to providing incentives, so that people will be able to convert their vehicles at cheaper costs.” His projection for the popular IVM brand of his product is one feeling so interesting,“my projection is to see made- in-Nigeria Innoson brand of vehicles everywhere you go in Africa. It is a projection for Nigerians and not for Innoson alone, because if you travel to anywhere in the world and see Innoson vehicle, you will know that it is made in Nigeria. Innoson is our own and all Nigerians supposed to support the brand by buying Innoson vehicles. On the level of patronage, he was happy with the level of patronage of the CNG buses since the era of fuel subsidy ended, because, according to him, the need for the vehicles is rising, stating that orders have been coming from both private individuals and government.
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Automobile expert Mr Mamudu Luqman, who also commented on the challenge, said that the automobile manufacturing plants established at the launch of NAIDP in 2013/2014 were still intact, but reduced in capacity. According to him, as at 2017/2018, the installed assembly capacity ramped up to 500,000 units of automobiles annually, mostly of light and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, but have since reduced to just 5 to 10 % operating capacity due to many reasons, including gang-up against the policy by importers. He pointed out that most of these facilities remained in place to date, but the programmes for implementation by the government were abandoned by its agencies. He noted that the continued reliance on imported vehicles by Nigerians, especially fairly used automobiles was doing more damage to the growth of the industry and Nigeria’s economy.
Luqman said: “The reason is simply that the programmes put in place under NAIDP for rapid capacity utilisation were abandoned by the implementing agencies. As a result, those who never liked the policy mobilised against it. All protective and concessionary measures were then either removed or weakened to the delight of importers. For instance, the protective tariff for the Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) assembly was 10%, while Fully Built Units (FBU) import was 35 %; a 25% differential to encourage local assembly, but the 2020 fiscal policy removed this differential. So, to date, it is 10 % duty to import a fully built truck. Same as to import semi knocked-down kits for the same truck. So, why would you want to assemble and employ locally when you can just import?”
In a bid to overcome the challenge, Luqman called for the implementation of the NAIDP programmes, launch of a low-cost automobiles acquisition fund especially for commercial vehicles fleet owners and mass transit bus operators and realisation of automotive suppliers’ parks to encourage components and parts production. He argued that these would grow local contents and ensure massive employment and completion of the vehicle quality and safety laboratories across the country. When fully implemented, it would lead to an inflow of foreign direct investment for the country, adding that Nigeria is a huge and attractive market for automotive manufacturing.
Also speaking on the challenges facing local vehicle assembly plants in the country, Mr Remi Olaofe, the Executive Director, Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA), decried the 2021 Finance Bill and the failure of the government to ensure the passage of the NAIDP bill as some of the cardinal issues limiting the growth of automobile manufacturing plant in the country. He also blamed policy inconsistencies and government difficulties to optimally manage its competing priorities, rather than constantly employing a fire fighting approach as some of the other reasons for the failure. He further blamed former President Muhammadu Buhari for his failure to see beyond the short-term benefits of its policies vis-a-vis the long term macroeconomic benefits of such to the country.
The NAMA Executive Director insisted that it was wrong to evaluate the auto assembly industry in isolation without a full consideration of the entire value chain.He added: “The multiplier effect of a functional auto assembly industry from parts and accessories manufacturers cannot be overemphasised. A lot of research work has been done in this area, but nothing is being done with the reports. With more than 50 % of the Nigerian population very active in the 30 – 65 years old bracket, we’ve got the market. The foreign countries see this immense opportunity to dump their vehicles (new and used) on us.
“The truth is our government is very impatient with the auto assemblers because we have not consciously sat down to appraise the multi-layers of social-economic benefits of having it functional. I would like to pinpoint the damage being created out of negative internal rivalry between the Nigerian auto assemblers and the importers of fully built auto units. We are about a year into the administration of President Bola Tinubu. It is painful to say not much has been achieved in reversing the downward trend of the fortunes of our auto assembly industry.”
Besides, Olaofe accused the importers of vehicles, either new or old as fuelling counter-government policies to frustrate the assemblers and called on the NADDC to step up its game from policy formulation to implementation with the collaboration of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).He canvassed the government to fast-track the passing into law of the NAIDP Bill, charge NADDC to come up with specifications of a truly Nigerian vehicle and attract, through a competitive screening process, relevant Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that are in sync with the country’s medium and long terms auto assembly goals in a bid to address some of the challenges.
For many years, there have been a growing calls for the promotion of made-in-Nigeria products and services to strengthen the country’s economy and currency. Championing this call is the Organised Private Sector, including the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), which has consistently insisted that the real industrialisation of the country begins when Nigerians begins to patronize locally made products. President Bola Tinubu’s call for Nigerians to patronize locally made goods underscores the importance of this initiative. Recently, the Vice President Kashim Shettima stressed the need for the prioritisation of local content and promotion of made-in-Nigeria products, citing that Executive Order 003 which makes the patronage of locally manufactured products mandatory is still in effect. He also said that the federal government has partnered with MAN to devise an actionable roadmap and policy framework that would refurbish the nation’s manufacturing sector, affirming that the roadmap and policy framework would be speedily implemented to effect the needed changes that will revamp the sector.
The VP, who stated this while declaring open mid-this year, the three-day National Manufacturing Policy Summit at the State House Banquet Hall regretted that the sector had endured a series of setbacks over the past decades. “Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I implore us all to leverage this summit to develop an actionable roadmap and policy framework, ready for immediate implementation, to create the changes we want in the manufacturing sector. I assure you that we shall always maintain an open-door policy to accommodate your needs and expectations,” Shettima stated.
For umpteenth times, MAN has urged the federal government to make real its professed commitment to promote the consumption of Made-in- Nigeria goods and services, noting that “the Executive Orders 003 and 005 exemplified the commitment of the federal government of Nigeria to grow domestic production through the patronage of locally produced goods
According to MAN , “the committee which is chaired by the President and anchored by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology should be mandated to ensure strict compliance with the order. Ministry, Department and Agencies of Government that fail to comply with the Executive Order should be sanctioned accordingly.”
As part of the effort to promote locally made products, MAN in the past 10 years or more organised the exhibition in furtherance of its campaign for patronage of Made-in-Nigeria goods. Former President Muhamadu Buhari has consistently maintained that Nigerians should consume what they produce and produce what they consume, saying that it is a demonstration of the capacity of the Nigerian manufacturing sector to produce what country consumes .
Last year, the Minister of Industry, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, identified the automotive industry as a potential driver of Nigeria’s economic recovery, on the ground that it will offer numerous benefits, including job creation, technology transfer, and the development of ancillary industries. Uzoka-Anite stated this at the Nigeria Auto Industry Summit in Lagos, last year ,where she was represented by a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Industry Development Office, Mrs Olumuyiwa Ajayi, said, “The automotive industry is labour-intensive and has the potential to create thousands of jobs across the value chain from manufacturing and assembly to sales, maintenance, and logistics,” adding that, “by fostering a robust automotive sector, we can significantly reduce unemployment rates and provide sustainable livelihoods for our citizens.”
