…Calls for Urgent Review of Finance Act
The Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company Limited (ANAMMCO) has warned that policy somersault by the Nigerian government is crippling the nation’s automotive industry.
Executive Director of ANAMMCO, Mr. Uche Okeke, gave the warning in Enugu on Thursday when the Board Members of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) visited the company.
Okeke said, with the government’s encouragement, the auto industry, being one of the largest employers of labour in the world, is capable of generating mass employment for the nation’s teeming youths.
He said: “Our Company (ANAMMCO), for instance, has the capacity to employ 2,000 persons as well as produce cars that could compete with vehicles produced elsewhere. With the necessary policy put in place, local auto manufacturers would be able to increase production and sales volumes so much that brand new vehicles made in Nigeria will become affordable for Nigerians. Produce and sell so much. The truth is that it is cheaper to produce locally than importing.”
Okeke, therefore, urged the federal government to urgently review the 2020 Finance Act, by which the government lowered import duty of fully built up new cars to as low as 5%, as against the provision of the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP), which, for seven years, has awaited passage into law.
“Considering challenges faced by vehicle manufacturing companies in Nigeria,” he stressed, “there is an urgent need for the government to review the finance Act as well as reconsider the 20 percent excise duty on raw materials imported into the county.”
The ANAMMCO boss, however, commended NADDC for always ensuring that his company did not shut down operations, especially when it faced a downturn.
Responding, the Board Chairman of NADDC, Sen. Osita Izunaso, said the council would look into the issues raised by ANAMMCO with a view to finding lasting solutions to them.
Izunaso, who admitted that many vehicles manufacturing companies in the country witnessed a downturn due to policy changes, assured that the board was working with private sectors to turn the fortunes of the automotive industry around.
The NADDC chairman pointed out that the facility tour of the company gave them more insight into the need to review the 2020 Finance Acts and Automotive policy as part of measures to suit reality on the ground.
He encouraged ANAMMCO management not to be dismayed by the current challenges, saying it had the potential to become a giant vehicle manufacturing company in Nigeria.
ANAMMCO, one of the nation’s oldest surviving automobile assembly companies, also runs an institute, where people are trained on vehicle maintenance.
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