By Okon Bassey
The promoter and investor of the Akwa Ibom State-based vehicle assembly plant, Chief Valentine Okorie, has assured Nigerians that the plant under construction will roll out its first set of commercial vehicles in the first quarter of 2022.
Okorie disclosed this when journalists visited the assembly plant sited at Ikot Ukap Itam in Itu Local Government Area to ascertain the progress of work during a facility tour.
According to the investor, when the plant is completed, it will have the capacity to produce 1,000 commercial vehicles yearly.
Okorie, who is the chief executive officer,
Nimshack Transportation Technologies Limited, lauded the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel, for creating a conducive environment for private investors to come into the state.
He said the state government, in keeping with its industralisation drive, had acquired land for the sitting of the plant and also constructed a dedicated power line to feed the automobile plant.
However, Okorie blamed the delay in the project completion to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and certain policies of the federal government.
He disclosed that the firm is working with an Israeli automobile manufacturer, Mervan, as its technical partner.
This partnership, he said, would assist in technology transfer and backward.
He called on the federal government to make more reforms in the area of ease of doing business in the country.
According to him, “The plant is about 90 percent completed. Everything you see here is prefabricated and brought for installation, and as you can see, the electrical, the production area and the spraying area have been completed.
“We have fixed the offices, and I can assure you that in the next six months, commercial vehicles from this plant will be in the market.”
Okorie added: “Our target is to produce 1,000 vehicles in a year. We must commend the state government for looking at other ways of generating allocation for the state, not just the allocation, but, to generate jobs and employment for the people.
“The government has assisted us by providing this land free of charge, and we have a dedicated power line for the factory.
“This is the first vehicle assembly plant in the South-south region. What Innoson Vehicle Motors is doing as a private investor is commendable, but we are coming to take the automobile industry to another level because of the types of vehicles that would be assembled here.”
In her respond, the Chairman, correspondents’ chapel of NUJ, Akwa Ibom State Council, Idongesit Ashameri, applauded the investor for taking the challenge and the courage to venture into automobile assemblage and production in the state.
She noted that the facility visit was undertaken to ascertain the progress of work and to gather facts from the management of the company in order to be adequately informed to inform the public on the industralisation drive of the state government.
