Chairman of the Board of the National Automotive Council (NAC), Alhaji Abdukadir Saleh, has said that the Federal Government is committed to the implementation of the new automotive policy.
Saleh said this yesterday in Kano when he led members of the board on a facility tour of the National Trucks Manufacturers (NTM) Ltd in Kano.
He said the current administration was ready to revitalise the auto industry and “that is why it puts in place the policy recently approved by the Federal Executive Council’’.
Saleh said that through the policy, “the government intends to reduce the high vehicle importation bill which stood at 3.4 billion dollars (N550 billion) in 2012.
“A transformed automotive industry will realise its potentials as a major driver of economic growth, job creation, local value addition and technology acquisition,” he said.
Saleh said the policy did not out rightly ban the importation of used cars.
He explained that the Federal Government only directed that all vehicles purchased by its agencies should be from the local assembly plants unless it was specialised in nature.
In that case, Saleh said that the NAC must certify that such vehicles were not produced in the country.
He said that under the new policy three automotive clusters are to be established in the country, while the metal and steel sector is to be revived as well as the tyre manufacturing industry that would support it.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr Ibrahim Bayero, who received the board members, called for the full implementation of the new auto policy for the growth of the sector.
Bayero, who was represented by the Company Secretary, Dr Samuel Itabiyi, urged the Federal Government to mandate governments at all levels to patronise the local assembly plants.
He said government should guide against policy failure, which had been one of the major factors militating against the auto industry in the country.
Bayero appealed to the government to make available loan facilities to the manufacturing sector at single digit rates, and said the age limit of imported second hand vehicles should be reviewed.
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