MANY Nigerians may not know about the National Automotive Council of Nigeria, NAC, though the organisation is 18 years old. Its mandate is to harness resources to enhance local manufacturing of vehicles in Nigeria.

The best it has done in those years is the collection of billions of Naira for the Auto Fund from the 2 per cent duty (cost, insurance, freight) that is paid on every car that is imported into the country.

Outside token donations that it makes to higher institutions (Federal College of Education, Gombe, Kaduna Polytechnic, Federal Science and Technical College , Abuja, National Metallurgical Training Institute, Onitsha, Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori and Lagos State Polytechnic got N54 million from it recently) NAC is hardly known for any meaningful contributions to the growth of the automobile industry.

NAC has not supported the efforts of individuals who designed vehicles that would have helped in cutting down the billions  of Naira Nigeria spent on importation of vehicle. Instead, it is working on its own car that it says would be ready by 2017.

In 2008 when about 37,000 cars were sold in the country, almost all imported, NAC made more than N1 billion from duties. What does it do with the money it has been collecting since 1993? How has NAC helped the local automobile industry over the years?

NAC’s ambitions are captured in a vision statement, published on its website, “By 2020 Nigeria will be one of the 20 largest economies in the world able to consolidate its leadership role in Africa and establish itself as a significant player in the global economic and political arena.” How does this help NAC achieve its objectives?

The recent request for N50 billion from the Federal Government “to  build local capacity for the production of made-in-Nigeria vehicles,” is another indication of NAC’s sudden aspiration for relevance.

Alhaji Yahaya Mafindi, NAC Chairman, said: “There is an urgent need for the Federal Government to create an intervention for the auto sector. This will motivate growth in the industry to its potential of job creation and technology acquisition.

“The National Automotive Council needs an intervention fund of about N50 billion to  train and provide special grants for talented mechanics and also to equip higher institutions in automotive  engineering and technology,” Mafindi said.

Since 2009, government has been promising an intervention fund for the automobile industry, which is in coma. Other factors like stable electricity supply would be critical to make vehicles assembled in Nigeria competitive against imports, especially these days when waivers have made tariffs ineffective.

It has been promises all through. On 27 November 2009, while commissioning a car production line in Kaduna, President Goodluck Jonathan promised that by 2010, the factory will have adequate electricity supply, it will not run on generators — it was another promise.

Government’s intervention in the automobile industry needs to go beyond words, but organisations like NAC are layers of bureaucracy that consume public funds without producing results.

If NAC needs N50 billion for capacity building, what will manufacturers need? Under government’s intervention, companies being revived should create the local capacities for their businesses.

NAC has enough funds, without depending on government, to do its work.