Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Mr Samuel Ortom, has stressed the need for local entrepreneurs to invest in the manufacturing of automotive components for local assembly plants. Ortom made the call at the launch of 58 investment profiles on automotive components organised by the Automotive Council of Nigeria (NAC) in Abuja.

The investment profiles will educate prospective investors on what they need to know about the manufacture of certain components required by local assembly plants.

The profiles will also inform investors about how and where to access funding for the development and manufacture of automotive components. Ortom said the five-decade-old Nigerian automotive industry was hardly supported by parts and components from local manufacturers.

He said that no nation could achieve its target of industrial development unless local manufacturers were encouraged to produce for the general growth of the economy.

“The Nigerian automotive industry is about five decades old. The local automotive assembly plants, except in a few cases, are not supported by parts and components from local manufacturers. It has, therefore, become imperative to woo interested investors to take up the challenge of providing parts and components to the assembly plants.” Ortom commended NAC for its initiative to encourage investment in the manufacture of automotive components.

Earlier, the Director-General of NAC, Mr Aminu Jalal, said the council was inspired by the desire of some investors to revive the country’s moribund automotive assembly plants and to launch the investment profiles.  Jalal said the profiles were developed to help investors identify the right areas to invest in and how to attract funding for their ventures.

He said NAC would continue to engage stakeholders in the industry until it achieved its mandate of supporting growth in the automotive industry.

He urged stakeholders, especially investors, to key into the council’s programmes, which he said were aimed at reviving the industry. In his presentation, Mr Muhammed Haruna, the Director-General of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), said the agency had already developed the requisite technology for the manufacturing sector.

Haruna, whose paper was entitled Engineering Infrastructure for the Manufacturing of Automotive Components, said the agency had developed the know-how to accelerate the process.

He called for collaboration among government agencies to speed up the sector’s growth and to avoid duplication of efforts. Haruna, however, said the agency would continue to lead the campaign for local technology incubation in the country. The launch of the document was attended by some past and present members of the NAC Council.