The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has
described the Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited as a trail
blazer in Nigeria’s automotive industry.
The Minister made the remarks in Nnewi, Anambra State, on Monday when
he led a team of 25 journalists on a facility tour of the sprawling
manufacturing complex of the company.
“Having toured this factory today, I make bold to say that Innoson
Vehicle Manufacturing Company Ltd. is a trail blazer in the automotive
industry, and a shinning example of what Nigeria is capable of
achieving if it looks inwards and taps into the boundless energy and
ingenuity of its people,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed said as a manufacturing company, Innoson has
demonstrated the spirit behind the formulation of the National
Automotive Industry Development Plan, which is aimed at curtailing the
dependence on imports and ensuring the growth of the Nigerian
automotive industry, using local resources.
“Innoson is living up to what the policy aims to achieve: Creation of
jobs, conservation of foreign exchange and acceleration of technical
development,” he said.
The Minister said the Federal Government will continue to encourage
the patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products, noting that in that regard,
the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, in collaboration with
the Ministry of Information and Culture, recently held the National
Media Launch of the Made-in Nigeria Campaign.
“On May 18th 2017, as part of the Ease of Doing Business Initiative,
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo signed three Executive Orders. One of
the three is called the ‘Support for local contents in public
procurement by the Federal Government’. A key provision of this is
that all ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal
Government shall grant preferences to local manufacturers of goods and
service providers in their procurement of goods and services,” he
said, noting that Innoson will be a major beneficiary of the Executive
Orders.
The Minister noted that the success recorded by Innoson Vehicle
Manufacturing Company Limited, through the manufacturing of over
10,000 vehicles and the creation of over 7,000 jobs, is a pointer to
the fact that the diversification of the economy by the Buhari
Administration is real and achievable.
In his remarks, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the
company, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, said the company, which started
operations in 2009, has production lines for Buses, Pick-up Vans,
Sports Utility Vehicles and Sedans, among others.
He said the company has the capacity to produce 10,000 vehicles per
year and called for more patronage of its products.
Chief Chukwuma, who took the Minister and his entourage on a tour of
the company’s factory, said the company has succeeded in reducing its
foreign manpower from 300 at inception to 15, thereby ensuring
technology transfer in the manufacturing of vehicles.
