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Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO) has reiterated that the auto sector has the huge potential for job creation.
The Managing Director of ANAMMCO, Mr. Maduabuchukwu Okeke, stated this at the just concluded Lagos International Trade Fair.
“We are now a private organisation and with government partnership involved.
“We assemble the best and most suitable trucks, coaches and city buses from Completely Knocked Down (CKD) for the operating environment of Nigeria and West Africa from our office in Enugu,” he said.
He stated that the company is creating employment and also improving Nigerian economy by bringing in an unfinished product to be finished in Nigeria and these are products suited for Nigeria road in particular and suit for transportation businesses, logistics, construction businesses and so on.
Director, Development Institution and National Resources, Bureau Of Public Enterprises (BPE), Joe Anichebe, said that the presence of the BPE at the Fair was to give the Company encouragement
“We privatised ANAMMCO some years ago and the business is beginning to pick up and we believe is going to be one of our flagships,” he said.
Anichebe stated that the Federal Government is working for ways to improve the sector.
On the auto policy, he said “We have over three thousand components and hope as we go on at least 20 to 30 will be fully produced locally and this will boost job creation.
He recalled, “We used to have glass production for the auto industry, Dunlop in Ibadan, among others. We had those components being produced locally to feed the industry. Today, I doubt if we have up to five parts that have local content that can go into any car.
“These are the areas we are trying to encourage from our own part as a government and we are also trying to see that there is tariff in bringing in new cars to protect locally manufactured ones.”
Company Manager of ANAMMCO, Benneth Ejindu, identified the automotive sector as the sector with greatest potential for growth, saying that except for the systemic problem in Nigeria, a lot of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEMs) would have been very eager to take advantage of the potentials in the market.
Ejindu added that the auto sector has a potentials for job creation not only for the people that work in the factory, but people that work in the supply chain, like glass, silencer, foams, plastics among other components, adding that these are the SMEs that should grow out of successful auto industry.
He pointed out that the auto industry in Nigeria began with the first national development plan in 1960, which brought in the likes of SCOA to assemble Peugeot vehicles.
He lamented the inconsistency in the implementation of the policy by some past administration which has made it difficult for the country to fully accomplish its potential of becoming Africa’s automotive hub.
