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Lanre Shittu Motors mulls vehicles components manufacturing in Nigeria

By Kingsley Jeremiah
10 July 2015   |   12:57 am
AS part of effort to ensure that the production of components and vehicles of international standard is achieved in Nigeria, Lanre Shittu Motors has said that it will begin vehicle assembling, part and truck manufacturing in Nigeria.
Lanre Shittu Motors

Lanre Shittu Motors

AS part of effort to ensure that the production of components and vehicles of international standard is achieved in Nigeria, Lanre Shittu Motors has said that it will begin vehicle assembling, part and truck manufacturing in Nigeria.

Speaking with the Guardian in Lagos, Group Executive Director of the organization, Taiwo Shittu said his organization already placed an order for it first set of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) vehicles, which is expected to arrive in Nigeria soon. He noted that manufacturing or assembling of cars in Nigeria is a very welcome development for the Nigerian economy, adding that the money spent in importing cars was supposed to be retained within the country.

“We are working on manufacturing some components and assembling with the support of our partners and hope to commence truck manufacturing soon. We just placed an order for our first set of CKD trucks which will arrive Nigeria any time from now.

“If we embrace a doable strategy for manufacturing of some components in the car, assembling and distributing these cars in Nigeria and other neighboring countries, we will be able to create jobs directly and indirectly, increase our position in the international market which will be beneficial for the naira,” Shittu said.

According to him, the country needs to move gradually from total importation to manufacturing of some components used in vehicles so that funds can remain in Nigeria.

He said: “If we could boast of manufacturing of some components in Nigeria and source for what we cannot produce locally to assemble in Nigeria, we will be able to boost the economy and job opportunities. Automobile does not just refer to cars alone.

They also refer to bikes, tricycles, four wheel drives, trucks equipment etc.” Shittu who explained that manufacturing, sales, assembly and lease of made in Nigeria automobiles would create market for spare parts, urged the Federal Government to put in place strong strategy to speed the development of the sector.

He warned the government not to take the whole exercise lightly, stressing that the country could end up having abandoned projects and factories. “Auto financing is a future to any successful auto-industry, this should not be limited to only the manufacturers or importers but also to the end users, only then manufacturing assembling can be embraced in Nigeria.

Government has to put in place pocket friendly loan facilities and plans to sustain them for the people who would eventually buy the made in Nigeria cars. “This can only cover a few people and has its restrictions keeping in mind that they are private businesses that won’t just be measured by customer satisfaction but need to make profit”, Shittu stated.

Projecting that the automobile sector would pick up towards the last quarter of the year, he said that the automotive market in Nigeria has been on the lock down since last year.

“Even after the swearing in of the new government demand for cars, trucks and equipment is low and importation in cars has reduced. This may be due to the fact that the economy is still finding its feet after the various crises such as the fall of the naira in the international market and the drop in price of crude oil”, Shittu added.

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