From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Another vehicle assembly plant in the South East, ROXETTES Motors, being established in Obuaku City, near Aba, Abia State, will start rolling out vehicles before the end of October this year.
The Chief Executive Officer of ROXETTES Motors, Dr Kaycee Orji, disclosed this during a meeting with Governor Alex Otti. He said the completion of the plant was almost concluded.
“The plant is almost set to commence assembling vehicles in Abia State before the end of October 2024. The construction of the plant at Obuaku City nears completion, and all the equipment needed to start producing 40,000 units of automobiles per annum is expected to arrive in Abia State before the end of August 2024,” he said.
“What was a dream a year ago has now become a reality owing to the encouragement from Governor Otti. He provided the enabling environment and fulfilled every promise he made us when we shared the dream of setting up a vehicle assembly plant in Nigeria, and he pleaded with us to bring it to Abia.”
The Abia-born ROXETTES Motors promoter told Otti, “I told you of my plans to have an assembly plant, and you asked me to bring it to Abia. I am very grateful to Your Excellency for the peaceful business atmosphere you have created in Abia. Everything you promised us, you have fulfilled.
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“Your Excellency promised us land where we would build the assembly plant, and in less than a month, you gave us an offer letter and Certificate of Occupancy. I have to inform you now that construction is seriously ongoing at Obuaku City. We call it Eco-Drive Green Tech Metropolis because we have in mind to do a whole lot of things within that space. One of the things we are doing already is the construction of the assembly plant.”
Informing the governor further, Orji said, “The assembly plant will see us rolling out about 40,000 units of automobiles per annum, and 70 per cent of the production would be mainly innovative products like electric vehicles and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) driven vehicles.
“The world is migrating to sustainable energy, and we don’t want to sit back and watch the world move while Nigeria and Abia State are not doing anything. We considered Abia the most favourable environment to start because of the current leadership. So, we are going to start assembling electric vehicles in that space this year, Your Excellency.
“Secondly, we are going to have another production line there, a CNG conversion plant. This means we will have the capability to convert any vehicle to CNG. We are going to have the CNG kits installed there and then the CNG cylinders installed so that people can run on cheaper and cleaner energy.”
Orji also informed Otti that his company has produced its CNG generators in China, and they will be leaving China this month so that when installed, the firm will have no business with the national grid.
Governor Otti expressed delight over the update he got from Dr Orji, hoping that soon, the company will move from assembling to full production.
“We love that the vehicles are assembled here, but we will be happier if we begin to manufacture them here. We understand how manufacturing happens. With car manufacturing, you will still have to buy some parts from somebody else. If you want to sit down and manufacture everything from beginning to end, then you cannot do it.
“But the important thing is that you couple all the things together in a particular location. You have an emblem that says this vehicle is manufactured in Nigeria. For me, that’s the joy.
“We want to get to a level where you can replicate some of those things in Aba. Our people are very creative. Just show them what to do. They may not finish it in the way they can finish it in China, but a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.”
Otti thanked the CEO of ROXETTES Motors for listening to him and agreeing to set up the assembly plant in Abia.
The governor said he has instructed the Commissioner for Works to begin the process of building a dual carriageway from the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway into Obuaku City to create better and easier access.
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