GAC Motors, Stakeholders Lament State of Auto Industry, Seek Govt’s Support

GAC Motors, Stakeholders Lament State of Auto Industry, Seek Govt’s Support

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

The General Manager, CIG Motors Company Limited, marketers and sole distributor of GAC motor brand in Nigeria, Mr. Arogundade Jubril and other stakeholders in the automotive and road transport sector yesterday lamented the poor state of the automobile industry and called on government at all levels to support the sector in order to save it from imminent collapse.

The stakeholders were in unison that the sector was in a state that needed urgent resuscitation.

Jubril who spoke at the official unveiling of the 21st Abuja International Motor Fair held at the International Conference Centre, Annex, said that the automobile industry would not survive as an industry without government’s support noting that most thriving businesses especially in Africa required substantial government support.

“We are being encouraged to go into assembling, where we need to assemble locally. But if we assemble these cars in Nigeria and nobody to patronise us, what relevance is that to our business enterprise? So government needs to come in.

“First of all, government needs to be the up-takers of these vehicles that will be assembled in the country. That is the first way to support. Secondly, the government needs to provide the enabling environment for citizens to have the means to purchase these vehicles, meaning that they can work into a bank and get a credit facility that enables them to make the purchase just as it is done across the globe,” he said.

“It is only in Nigeria that buyers go to showroom to buy a car and pay cash at the end of the bargain. The international best practices is that you go to car store, chose a car of your choice, bargain with the dealer and then agree on the terms for mortgage.

“You buy and pay in installments until the payment is completed. This is so that it can be affordable to as many citizens as possible. Regrettably, in Nigeria, buyers go to car store, agree on price and pay cash no matter the amount,” he argued.

He said it was discouraging even when government campaigned against used cars in order to control environmental pollution.

“Unfortunately, we are not providing the enabling environment for that to happen, so the government needs to step in,” he said.

On other challenges confronting the auto industry, he said “another area of concern is the customs. We are importing the components we use to build these cars and when you import, the tariff and custom duty, the delays in the port, the traffic in the port and others are factors that also affect our business.

“Finally, but not the least is power. Without constant power supply, we cannot have a thriving industry, especially the automobile industry. We cannot survive because we now have to depend on generators or gas plants, which is not sustainable.

“We believe that electric cars are coming, we believe that gas vehicles are coming, so government needs to create enabling environment for each industry to plug in.

“We had done the official opening of the 21st Abuja International Motor Fair, we should see heavy government presence at the fair, government at all levels need to come here to patronise us. This is the kind of support that I think the automobile industry needs now,” he said.

Earlier in his address of welcome, the Chairman Organising Committee and Managing Director BKG Exhibitions Limited, Mr. Ifeanyichukwu Agwu, said the sector was in a coma and needed serious resuscitation through government’s special support.

He added that the current state of the industry should be a matter of serious concern to any serious stakeholder.

“The challenges are becoming more daunting as it has led to the closing down of many companies.

A greater percentage of those still around are merely existing and in dire need of life support.

“The number of companies participating in this edition is an attestation to this. Ordinarily, it is the delight and wish of any serious player in the industry to showcase amongst others but here we are witnessing the opposite,” he further lamented.

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