Business
‘Poor Infrastructure, Bane Of Automobile Industry’
Nigerian Manufacturers have attributed the woes bedeviling the rapid development of the automobile industry to the lack of basic infrastructure. Analysts blamed successive government that have failed to provide the necessary infrastructure to ensure the survival and growth of the sector. Because of such negligence, Nigeria has now become the largest importer of fairly used cars that amount to about N10 billion annually. The Tide investigation revealed that the substantial amount of money spent on the importantion of various fairly used automobiles would probably have been invested in the local industry which would have strengthened its backbone.
Dr. Haroun Ibrahim Aliyu, managing director of Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) who spoke at a joint summit by the Federal House of Representatives and the National Automotive Council (NAC) in Abuja, said government cannot shy away from the fact that adequate infrastructure is the only way to guarantee the industrial develop and the automotive industry would bring about high standard of living through job creation.
He also said the sect or is bound to link many types of producing firms from maternal producers to intermediate and capital manufacturers and final assemblers.
Specifically, Aliyu lamented that the cost of generating electricity in the nation’s auto manufacturing sector is very high.
He therefore urged government to invest more in infrastructure particularly in electricity, water supply system, communication and road network.
He suggested that it is necessary to induce greater support to promote a dynamic, efficient and sustainable automobile manufacturing in a collective manner with the private sector as well participating in the provision of infrastructures at affordable prices through Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) principle.