The National Auto-mobile Council, NAC, has disclosed that it was overwhelmed by the response by major automobile manufacturers to the new Federal Government’s  automotive policy.

Director General of the  council, Engr. Aminu Jalal, who made this disclosure at the inauguration of Volkswagen plant in Lagos recently, said that over 90 million vehicles, valued at US$2 trilllion was produced last year, worldwide.

The NAC boss, who was represented by the Director, Polity and Planning, Mr. Luquman Mamudu noted that the response to the policy exceeded their expectations.”

According to him, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot and Renault vehicles are now assembled locally while Toyota, Ford and many others are concluding feasibility studies with a view to setting up assembly operations.

He, however, revealed that the Council’s focus had shifted to local content development, adding that a local content development strategy had been produced and its implementation committee was inaugurated recently.

The local content committee he noted comprise experts from the assembly plants, local content manufacturers, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, relevant government agencies and international organisations like UNIDO.

He said, “The main objective of the automotive policy is to bring back automotive assembly and to develop local content. This will enable us create employment, acquire technology for our industrialisation and reduce pressure on the country’s balance of payment position resulting from escalating vehicle import bill.

In 2013, Nigeria imported vehicles worth N1.2 trillion (US$6.2 billion) and spare parts and tyres worth N260 billlion (US$1.3 billion) according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Engr. Jalat, while commending the Stallion Group for taking the initiative to lead in investing in the Nigerian auto industry, recalled how he was challenged by the company to produce a policy that will provide a conducive atmosphere for investment in automotive assembly few years ago and expressed satisfaction that this has yielded fruits

He noted that the announcement by Nissan that they will assemble vehicles in Nigeria just a week after the approval of the policy was the policy’s landmark achievement and it gave it a new impetus.

Promising that the council would work with Stallion to ensure successful implementation of the policy, the NAC boss noted that many countries with successful automotive industry started with an automotive policy like Japan in 1910, Brazil in 1952, Thailand in 1971, Indonesia in 1969 and South Africa in 1961.

Meanwhile, Engineer Jalal has explained that the automobile industry is a great tool for industrial development in any nation, particularly in a developing  country like Nigeria.

He said: “It is a big employer of labour and with extensive forward and backward linkages in the economy. 40 countries produced almost 90 million vehicles last year, valued at over US$2 trillion.

“The industrial value added to the GDP is 7% for South Africa and some European countries, over 10% for Japan and over 5% for the USA.

“The importance of this industry is highlighted by the fact that the Philippines is the latest country to develop an automotive policy this year, joining its counterparts in ASEAN.

Furthermore, the ECOWAS Ministers of Industry at their meeting in Accra, Ghana, on 24th April 2015, adopted the automotive and machinery industry as one of the four regional priority sectors.

He pointed out that the Nigeria automotive policy was launched as part of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP). The NIRP aims to increase the contribution to our GDP by the manufacturing sector from 6.8% in 2014 to above 13% by 2017.