VON charges FG on auto-policy implementation
VON Automobiles Nigeria Limited, a Lagos based multiple vehicle assemblers has advised the federal government to concertedly execute the National Automotive Policy to rapidly influence capacity utilization and production of larger volume of passenger cars and commercial vehicles at the various vehicle manufacturing plants in the country.
Managing director, Tokunbo Aromolaran who made this plea last weekend during an oversight inspection of the plant by the Senate Committee on Import Waivers, Concession and Grants said the factory has attained 30% local content in bus production since it began operations in 2012.
The senate delegation taken round VON facility and vehicle warehouses were Mohammed Aliero, chairman, Senate Committee on import waivers, concession and grants, Gershom Bassey (member), Victor Efiong, clerk of the Committee and Felix Okonti, a consultant.
Aromolaran told the visiting legislature that prices of locally assembled vehicles can only become competitive when policy and environment are right to justify economics of car production.
“It is my ultimate goal to produce at least 1000 units of vehicles monthly so as to bring down unit prices of locally assembled vehicles but there is yet no volume to operate at optimal capacity,” he lamented.
Aromolaran craved the indulgence of the legislature to enact policy that would restrict importation of used vehicles into the country to forestall emission consequences of old vehicles on the environment and intimidating breakdowns in vehicular traffic.
According to him, “It is imperative government introduce proficient road worthiness act and vehicle emission standard to forestall wanton importation of unserviceable vehicles into the country.
“If only you would help us to control tokunbo cars, we can produce a whole lot of these small cars at very low prices. And as you are aware, tokunbo vehicles pollute the environment and cause gratuitous breakdowns on the roads,” Aromolaran said.
He said it was time Nigeria ceased to create Jobs in foreign countries where fully-built up vehicles are made, warning that it is not going to develop our local industries and our children won’t get to work if adequate measures are not implemented to raise the bar for local production.
VON Automobiles can create direct and indirect employment if the environment is right, as all the safety material used in buses assembled at the factory are sourced locally. Some of these items include windshield, window frames, sealants and labour.
Since it began vehicle assembly three years ago, improvised series of factory infrastructures currently used at the plant for production and these gadgets have saved huge foreign exchange cost.
“We started operations in 2012 before the auto policy was inaugurated and we have since then been determined to integrate backwards. A lot of our infrastructures are locally fabricated and this is because we are an import substitution industry.” He added.
VON are assemblers of various brands of vehicles including Hyundai passenger and commercial vehicles; VW cars, Chinese range of cars, buses and trucks; AshokLeyland buses and Stallion badge 7-ton military troop carriers.
The VON director listed some of the existing challenges confronting vehicle assembly plants in the country as: inaccessibility to foreign exchange, delay in the implementation of the auto policy, unavailability of consumer credit scheme and lacklustre government patronage. He advocated total reversal of these anomalies if the general public including customers must benefit immensely from vehicles assembled in the country.