Key players in the Nigerian automotive industry, have queried the federal government over the criteria adopted by its committee in selecting the auto plants that benefited from the huge patronage of the Compressed natural gas (CNG) buses that it would unveil in the next few days.
The stakeholders also wondered why the Presidential committee, chose the Semi-Knocked-Down (SKD) option, which they insisted had little or no impact on the local industry, reports Daily Independent.
The industry experts also said that the SKD assembly option, which is almost like importing the vehicles fully built and “coupling” them locally, was against the spirit of the new Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP-2023).
Most of the auto plant firms in the country spoken with, said they were unaware of the bidding process and equally queried the composition of the “experts” none of whom, they said was member of the auto manufacturers association or a core industry player.
For instance, when contacted last week, two prominent managers in PAN, Kaduna and ANAMMCO, Enugu, said their companies were neither contacted to bid to produce the buses, nor were they even aware.
Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, had about a week ago, announced that the vehicles and 20,000 CNG conversion kits, worth about N100 billion, were procured as part of the many intervention programmes to reduce the burden of increase in pump prices of petroleum products following the removal of oil subsidy on May 29, 2023.
According to him, the committee’s plan to deploy CNG buses and tricycles and the vision to get at least one million natural gas-driven vehicles on Nigerian roads by 2027, would mark a major energy transition in the country’s transportation industry.
Four plants owned by JET Motors, Mikano Motors, Kojo Motors, and Brilliant EV, he said were involved in the assembly of the SKD components of the CNG buses.
The press statement informed that JET Motors, which is the last post of Joseph Oluwemimo Osanipin as Chief Operating Officer before his appointment six months ago, as the Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), was coupling the buses in Lagos towards delivering 200 units before the first anniversary of the Tinubu administration.
A fifth plant, Dana Motors, it was learnt, is producing 14-seater CNG buses for the committee.
Onanuga further stated that the unveiling of the CNG buses would be the first batch of about 5,600 “palliative” compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric vehicles as part of the first anniversary celebration of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, has set off ripples in Nigeria’s automotive industry.
Mr. Femi Olafunmiloye, an Akure-based tricycle producer and founder of Lafbart Innovations and Consulting Ltd, in his comment said importing a SKD tricycles for example where local Complete-Knocked-Down (CKD) capabilities existed deprived the economy of maximum local participation and knowledge transfer.
Olafunmiloye explained that adopting the CKD assured of at least 35 per cent local content input, while also creating component market in the country.
Besides, Dr. Innocent Chukwuma, the Chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Co Ltd, said his company, which is a member of the Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (NAMA), was unaware of the bidding process.
Chukwuma insisted that Innoson was the only auto manufacturer in Nigeria today that had been doing CKD production of CNG buses of various sizes for about two years now.
He wondered why the government and its committee neglected the company when the bidding process began till it closed.
He insisted that being the largest bus manufacturer in the country with a new plant dedicated to the manufacture of CNG vehicles coming on stream in 2024 in Nnewi, IVM should have been tasked with the production of a good number of the buses.
About 25 years ago when the federal government raised the pump prices of petroleum products (from N20 to N22 in the case of PMS), one of the measures taken to “cushion the effect” was the procurement of a total of 1,000 units of mass transit buses for distribution to states and various groups.
Dr. David Obi, the Managing Director of D.V.C Ltd, said it was unfortunate that years after vehicle plants like PAN Nigeria, Kaduna; ANAMMCO, Enugu; Volkswagen in Lagos; and lately, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Ltd (IVM) in Nnewi, took giant strides in CKD mode of auto manufacturing, Nigeria was still fixated on SKD, which has little or no local value addition.
He described this as policy inconsistency by the government.
Obi, who until recently was the Chairman of the auto group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), argued against the production of the 6500 units of vehicles scheduled for delivery this year and the total of one million for production between now and 2027, based on SKD.
Key players in the Nigerian automotive industry, have queried the federal government over the criteria adopted by its committee in selecting the auto plants that benefited from the huge patronage of the Compressed natural gas (CNG) buses that it would unveil in the next few days.
The stakeholders also wondered why the Presidential committee, chose the Semi-Knocked-Down (SKD) option, which they insisted had little or no impact on the local industry.
The industry experts also said that the SKD assembly option, which is almost like importing the vehicles fully built and “coupling” them locally, was against the spirit of the new Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP-2023).
Most of the auto plant firms in the country spoken with, said they were unaware of the bidding process and equally queried the composition of the “experts” none of whom, they said was member of the auto manufacturers association or a core industry player.
For instance, when contacted last week, two prominent managers in PAN, Kaduna and ANAMMCO, Enugu, said their companies were neither contacted to bid to produce the buses, nor were they even aware.
According to him, “coupling” vehicles on SKD basis, was an irony, considering that the NAIDP-2023 for which an inter-agency and inter-ministerial committee was inaugurated early this month by the Industry Trade & Investment Minister, Dr. Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, was promoting “the transition of SKD to CKD type of automotive manufacturing over the next 10 years.”
But, Mr. Frank Nneji, the Managing Director of Transit Support Services Ltd (TSS), in his comment, maintained that assembling the vehicles locally whether on CKD or SKD basis, had some benefits.
Nneji posited that the important thing, was to advance the local production capabilities and create better technical transfer.
According to him, “coupling” vehicles on SKD basis, was an irony, considering that the NAIDP-2023 for which an inter-agency and inter-ministerial committee was inaugurated early this month by the Industry Trade & Investment Minister, Dr. Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, was promoting “the transition of SKD to CKD type of automotive manufacturing over the next 10 years.”
