The Director-General of National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Jelani Aliyu, has revealed that the Federal Government in a bid to foster the domestic production of vehicles is set to establish Automotive Industrial Parks in Anambra, Osun and Kaduna State.
The DG of NADDC made this known while speaking during a news interview today in Abuja.
According to a news report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), one of the automotive industrial parks will be sited in the home state of Nigeria’s first indigenous motor manufacturing firm (Innoson Motors) in Nnewi, Anambra, while the other two would be sited in Ede, Osun State and Kaduna.
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What they are saying
Mr Jelani Aliyu who commented on the economic benefits Nigeria will tap from the parks said:
“We are building three automotive industrial parks that will be comprehensive facilities where the necessary infrastructure will be provided and investors can easily come in and play.
“As the Federal Government is promoting local production of vehicles, key to that is creating the necessary environment, and we have done that with the automotive policy.
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“We are working on making it easier and more advantageous to produce vehicles locally because we believe the difference must be created between vehicles built elsewhere and those built in Nigeria.
“When you built a vehicle in Nigeria, you are giving our youths jobs, empowering Nigerians and creating better life.
“But when you bring in a fully built vehicle, you are taking resources outside Nigeria and that is not adding much value to us our economy.”
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Why this matters
- The Automotive Industrial Parks will be comprehensive facilities where necessary infrastructure for vehicle assembly and manufacturing will be provided, this will provide investors with an enabling environment to operate in.
- It is important to note that this programme was part of the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) five-point comprehensive programme aimed at promoting local production of vehicles. Hence, the coming on stream of the industrial parks will make it more advantageous to produce vehicles locally.
- This move is expected to – create value across the manufacturing value chain; quicken the activities of the steel industry which has been inanimate for a while; also add both vigour and diversity to Nigeria’s industrial and manufacturing sector.
- We should know that park will help to open up employment opportunities for the youths directly and indirectly, with a key focus to addressing the nation’s socioeconomic issues which swim down to poverty.
