[dropcap] C[/dropcap]ontrary to beliefs among certain stakeholders in the nation’s auto industry, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) has said that members and officials of Nigeria Automobile Manufacturers Association(NAMA) were not deliberately left out of the recent interaction of African Association of Automobile Manufacturers(AAAM) with the president Muhammadu Buhari.
NADDC’s Director of Policy and Planning, Mr. Mammud Luqman, gave the assurance in his reaction to a recent publication of Motoring World International.
According to him, NAMA could not have been left out of the interaction, as AAAM’s visit and meeting with the president was pertaining to the interest of the indigenous auto manufacturers.
He said: “How Nigeria government ought to intervene for unhindered development of the sector is the core reason for the visit, which was actually a follow up to the meeting with AAAM in South Africa two months earlier, where NAMA concerns were tabled.”
Sequel to the publication by Motoring World International in the wake of the AAAM’s meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in August, certain stakeholders had expressed concern over seemingly untold absence of major members and officials of NAMA.
But Mr. Luqman said, the concerns of the visiting AAAM officials were in sync with preconditions set by its members to invest in Nigeria.
“And it was therefore decided that AAAM should come and lend voice to NAMA’s cry to government,” he stressed.
The NDDC director also clarified that the AAAM’s “prayer to government is to restrain inflow of used vehicles, implementation of NAIDP prescribed measures to curtail smuggling and to improve customs administration process”
Mr. Luqman who was thankful to Motoring World International’s comprehensive report on AAAM’s recent visit, however, asserted that there was no hidden agenda in the visit or meeting with Mr. President, assuring that NAMA has nothing to panic about, as the intervention of the continental body was for the good of the nation’s auto industry.
“I wish to assure all local Assemblers that there was no hidden agenda by the visit,” Mr Luqman said, adding that “The objective is to draw in OEM’s direct investment to complement efforts of local Assemblers.”
