The Director-General of the National Automotive Council, Aminu Jalal, said on Tuesday that the nation’s automobile industry had the potential to generate over 200,000 jobs.
Jalal said this in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
“The auto industry is very huge and a car has over 2,000 components and each of these components is an industry,” he said.
He said the areas of job opportunities included mechanics, insurance, financing and logistics.
Jalal said the new automotive policy of the Federal Government was investor-friendly.
He said that already 23 car assembly plants had shown interest to invest in the country,
He listed the companies to include Piaggio, Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing Company and National Trucks Manufacturers at Kano State.
Jalal said to ensure that the auto industry was developed, the Federal Government had given incentives to the tyre manufacturers to encourage them to invest in the economy.
He said tyre manufacturers like Michelin and Dunlop had shown interest to return to country.
He listed the incentives to include free-duty on their equipment and incentive to import 20 per cent of tyres into the country.
Jalal said Nigeria was currently spending more than N1 trillion on the importation of vehicles and their spare parts.
He said substantial part of this figure would be saved if the nation’s automotive industry was fully functional.
He said the industry still faced the problem of skepticism on the part of potential investors who were doubtful of government’s commitment to the full implementation of the new automotive policy.
Jalal said the Federal Government remained fully committed to the implementation of the .policy.
He said that this year, NAC would commit itself to local content development and assist local entrepreneurs in accessing financial assistance to boost their operations.
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