The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo has said that steps are being taken by his ministry to seek legislative backing for the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP), otherwise called the Nigerian auto policy,
Adebayo said this during a meeting with the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Volkwagen Nigeria, Mr. Thomas Milz.
The meeting had in attendance the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment Mariam Katagum; the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs Evelyn Ngige; the Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, Mr Jelani Aliyu and other directors in the ministry.
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The NAIDP contains a number of policy measures needed to revitalize the industry for job creation, local value addition, and technology acquisition.
The policy has six components made up of standards, industrial infrastructure, local content development, skills development, investment promotion and market development.
Adebayo said his Ministry is working towards taking the plan to the Federal Executive Council for approval after which it would be sent to the National Assembly for consideration and passage.
He expressed optimism that with legislative backing, the policy will help position Nigeria as the vehicle manufacturing hub in Africa.
According to him, the whole idea of the Automotive Policy is to create an enabling environment for key players in the industry, as the policy seeks to gain the confidence of investors in the industry, with the view to attracting investments into the sector.
The Minister assured the Volkswagen boss that the government through the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council will continue to remove bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria and make the country a progressively easier place to start and grow a business.
PEBEC is an inter-Governmental and inter-Ministerial one which is chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
In his comments, Milz said his visit to the Minister is part of a follow-up process to the Memorandum of Understanding which Nigeria signed with Volkswagen in 2018.
In that MoU, Volkswagen made an undertaking to implement a phased approach in relation to the assembly of vehicles, initially from assembly kits with the long-term view of establishing Nigeria as an automotive hub on the West Coast of Africa.
This will include establishing a training academy in conjunction with the German Government, which will train the initial employees.
The academy will also provide broader technical training in automotive skills.
It is also intended that a comprehensive Volkswagen vehicle and service network is developed in the country subject to commercial viability.
In turn the Nigerian Government undertook to accelerate the approval of the Nigerian Automotive Policy. This includes the gradual transition from the importation of used cars to the manufacture and distribution of new vehicles.
The Government also made a commitment to provide a conducive legislative environment that will encourage the manufacturing of motor vehicles in Nigeria.
But before starting production, the Volkswagen Boss said there is need for the company to study the Nigerian market particularly in terms of demand for new vehicles.
Milz said, “We signed an MoU in 2018 and we do believe that Nigeria is a land of opportunities. Before we talk of production, we want to talk of demand and supply and this is what the discussions that we have yesterday and today is all about.
“We want to understand the market, understand the customers and their needs. We also want to know the opportunities available for the customers.
“The demand is already there, but we also know that some of those cars are not new cars and that is where we see the opportunities in the future to find the market for new cars and we believe this is possible.”
He expressed confidence that the steps being taken with the auto policy will further unlock the potentials of the sector in Nigeria.