The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Innoson Group, manufacturer of Innoson automobiles, Innocent Chukwuma, has raised the hope that Nigeria will be able to produce wholly locally made vehicles in five years if present challenges confronting those dreams are tackled by the federal government.
Chukwuma pointed out that access to foreign exchange, poor power supply and inconsistent government policy on the protection and patronage of locally made goods at all levels were part of those challenges confronting auto manufacturing industry in the country.
He spoke during a visit to Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu in Abuja, and also noted that the vision of his company was to drastically reduce the prices of vehicles and cut down the influx of imported ones in line with the federal government’s dream to make Nigeria one of the world’s top twenty industrialized nations in the year 2020.
“With local content of up to 60 percent in the manufacturing of the Innoson automobile, if the challenges confronting the manufacturing of the automobiles are surmounted, the company would in five years be able to manufacture locally imported components of the vehicle such as vehicle engine,” he stated.
“Our mission is to drastically reduce the prices of vehicles and cut down the country’s dependence on imported vehicles. We did it with motorcycles; we can do it again with motor vehicles; we wish to also request for a government policy to ensure that homemade goods are protected and patronized by all levels of government and her agencies”, the chairman posited.
In response, Onu described Innoson as an organisation partly sharing in the vision and aspiration of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in the areas of technological development, job and wealth creation.
