WE’RE STILL TALKING CARS AS NIGERIA INSPECTS LOCAL AUTOMOTIVE ASSEMBLY PLANTS

27 Feb 2014 It appears that cars will be news in Nigeria for a long time. ThisDay Live announces that the Nigerian federal government has commenced onsite inspection of local automotive assembly plants across the country as part of the implementation plan of the Nigeria Automotive Industry Development Plan.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Agang inspected the Peugeot Automotive Nigeria (PAN) car assembly plant in Kaduna weekend, and said more local and international investors were taking advantage of the huge opportunities provided by the new automotive plan to invest in Nigeria.

He is quoted as saying “I am greatly encouraged by the facilities I have seen here at PAN’s car assembly plant in Kaduna, which I am told is the biggest in West Africa. It shows that we are not just starting from the scratch when we say that we want to encourage automobile companies to establish and assemble their cars here in Nigeria, in line with the new automotive policy.

The Minister mentioned that Nissan and Hyundai are commencing preparations to come to Nigeria and homegrown company Innoson has already signed an agreement with two Chinese companies to expand its existing automobile assembly plant.

The Minister added “So far, we have been pleasantly surprised by the positive response from local and international investors who are already taking advantage or have signified their interest in leveraging the huge opportunities provided by the new automotive policy.”