BUSINESS
Private Sector Invests N500bn in Automotive Industry – DG NADDC
Alhaji Jelani Aliyu, the Director-General (DG), National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), has disclosed that the private sector has so far invested over N500 billion in the automotive industry.
“We have encouraged, supported, and enabled the private sector to come and put in over half a trillion naira to set up factories and assembly plants across the country,” Aliyu told newsmen in Sokoto on Sunday.
The DG spoke to newsmen on the efforts of the council to bolster the local production of vehicles in Nigeria.
Aliyu said: “We have companies like Dangote’s Sinotrucks, Innoson in Nnewi, Elizade, Lanre Shittu, Honda West Africa, Mikano, Nord, all producing vehicles in the country.
“We have companies and assembly plants in Lagos, Nnewi, Kaduna and Kano. Some are beginning to come up in Bauchi, Kano and Ogun states.
“So, there are a number of companies actually producing and assembling vehicles in Nigeria.”
Aliyu further stated that these companies have a combined capacity of producing up to 400,000 vehicles per year.
“We are not there yet, we are not producing 400,000 vehicles per year, because of market challenges.
“We are, however, doing a lot to unlock that potential and put a stop to the importation of new and used vehicles.
“As we speak, you can see that there are individuals and companies that believe in the current and future economy of Nigeria in a such a manner that they can invest this huge amount of money,” he explained.
Aliyu also said that the council is speaking to the bigger companies such as Toyota, Volkswagen and Nissan to come into Nigeria and directly set up their own production plants.
He added that the council is also working to effectively implement an automotive policy, with a view to wooing these companies back to Nigeria.
“We need a set of regulations to ensure that government gives maximum support to those who invest in this sector, because, when these companies come in, they put in hundreds of millions of dollars.
“They want to be sure that regardless of what the government is doing, their investments must be protected,” Aliyu said.
According to the director-general, the council has also engaged an international firm, KPMG, to review the automotive policy in tune with the extant global movement in producing vehicles.
He recalled how in the 70s and 80s, firms like Peugeot, Volkswagen, Anamco and Leyland were producing over 140,000 vehicles per year and suddenly stopped.
Aliyu said, “all that stopped overnight because the prices of crude oil that the country was so dependent on as a resource dropped from US$27 per barrel, to below US$10.
“So, overnight, Nigeria went into recession, overnight, Nigerians became poor, those people who could buy new vehicles like 504 and 505 peugeout, and volkswagen beetles could no longer do that.
“So, these companies could no longer sell their products, and were forced to leave because of market forces.”
Aliyu said that the council is working tirelessly to bring back that lost glory and discourage the heavy reliance on fairly used cars, called tokunbo cars, by Nigerians.
He said that the council is diligently implementing the National Automotive Industry Development Plan ( NAIDP), to reverse the ugly trend.
Aliyu insisted that the vehicles produced in Nigeria were of the same qualities with those imported, “if not even better.
“These vehicles made in Nigeria are configured to work with our extreme environment.” (NAN)
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N59.532 trillion, gained N184 billion or 0.31 per cent to close at N59.715 trillion.
The All-Share Index also added 0.31 per cent or 303 points, to settle at 98,509.
68, against 98,206. 97 recorded on Tuesday.Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 31.
74 per cent.Gains in Aradel Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa(UBA), Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries among other advanced equities drove the market performance up.
Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers and 17 losers.
On the gainers’ chart, Africa Prudential, Conoil and RT Briscoe led by 10 per cent each to close at N14.30, N352 and N2.42 per share, respectively.
Golden Guinea Breweries followed by 9.95 per cent to close at N7.18, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share.
On the other hand, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N155.25, Secure Electronic Technology Plc trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at 57k per share.
Multiverse lost 7.63 per cent to close at N5.45, Haldane McCall dropped 6.07 per cent to close at N4.95 and Honeywell Flour shed 5.62 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 49.44 per cent.
A total of 320.10 million shares valued at N6.48 billion were exchanged in 7,943 deals, compared with 939.41 million shares valued at N12.81billion traded in 9,098 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, ETranzact led the activity chart in volume with 70.27 million shares, while Aradel led in value of deals worth N1.22 billion.(NAN)
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened 22 pips to 7.1870 against the dollar on Monday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)
Arewa Youths Initiative for Energy Reforms (AYIFER), has urged Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to do everything possible to bring Kaduna Refinery back into operation.
National Coordinator of the group, Mr Bashir Al’Amin, stated this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
Al’Amin specifically called on the Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, to do all within his powers to rejuvenate the refinery and bring it up to global standard.
He said that having delivered the Port Harcourt refinery, coupled with the establishment of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, attention should be shifted to Kaduna refinery for easy spread of petroleum products.
“We are calling on Malam Mele Kyari to expedite action on Kaduna refinery so we can be at par with other regions in the country.
“We equally beg the NNPCL to do professional work in rehabilitating the old refinery and deliver a standard and functional petrochemical refinery and not a blending plant.
“Kyari should resist any temptation that could make him do something that can jeopardise his good image,” he said.
Al’Amin said that since the extinction of groundnut pyramid and textiles in Kano State as well as PAN in Kaduna State and with the Kaduna refinery getting moribund, a lot of youths had lost their jobs.
According to him, all their hopes in the north are tied to the legacy refinery, expressing the hope that God would use Kyari to deliver it well and on time.
He said that the group was solidly behind NNPCL in prayer and would be ready to celebrate the company if its expectations were met. (NAN)
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