Get Guardian on GoogleThe Federal Government has set a target of producing 19 per cent of Nigeria’s automotive components locally, as the country spends more than $3 billion yearly importing vehicle spare parts and other components.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Chris Isokpunwu, said this in Lagos earlier in the week at a sensitisation workshop on local automotive components manufacturing, organised by the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), with the theme: ‘Revitalising Automotive Local Components Manufacturing in Nigeria.’
Isokpunwu explained that achieving the set target would require a deliberate shift from vehicle assembly to local manufacturing, supported by appropriate policies, affordable financing, reliable infrastructure, and stronger collaboration between government and private-sector operators.
Isokpunwuemphasised that Nigeria could no longer sustain an automotive industry largely dependent on imported components when local manufacturers had the technical capacity and facilities to produce many of the parts required by the domestic market.
According to him, Nigeria has more than 11 million vehicles on its roads, creating a substantial market for batteries, fuel filters, oil filters, tyres and other automotive components.
He, however, regretted that about 90 per cent of the vehicles are imported, while more than 90 per cent of the spare parts and components used in the country also come from abroad.
The permanent secretary further described the yearly expenditure of more than $3 billion on imported automotive spare parts and components as a huge drain on the economy.
He warned that continued dependence on imports would undermine the country’s efforts to conserve foreign exchange, strengthen the naira and reduce inflationary pressures.
He said: “We cannot continue to rely on imported component parts. More than $3 billion is spent on importing spare parts and what the Assistant Comptroller-General referred to as knock-down parts. That is a huge drain on our foreign exchange reserves and negatively impacts the Nigerian economy.
“Nigeria must move beyond assembling vehicles to manufacturing the components that go into them. Sustainable industrialisation cannot be achieved through vehicle assembly alone.”
Earlier, the Director-General of NADDC, OluwemimoOsanipin, said the council was working to make local component manufacturing the centrepiece of Nigeria’s automotive industrialisation strategy.
He explained that the council’s responsibility extended beyond vehicle design and assembly to the development of a competitive and sustainable automotive value chain in which Nigerian businesses, workers, innovators and investors could participate.
