This view was canvassed at the Nigeria Auto Industry Summit held in Lagos, where the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, said the automotive sector held the key to reviving Nigeria’s economy and positioning the nation as a hub of automotive manufacturing in Africa.
In his remarks, Wale Adeniyi, Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, said the proliferation of used cars in Nigeria was further weakening the naira and straining the local manufacturers in the country. The ex-Director of NADDC, Mr Luqmam Mamudu, Head Sales, Marketing and Logistics at Honda Automobile Western Africa Ltd, Remi Adams, and General Manager, Marketing & Corporate Communications at Coscharis Group, Abiona Babarinde, sought urgent government’s intervention in the auto finance scheme in order to keep the industry going.
“Government should create an intervention fund of N100 billion for provision of affordable vehicle acquisition loans,” he said.