By Moses Akaigwe

The Deputy Managing Director of CFAO Motors, Kunle Jaiyesimi, on Friday x-rayed the present condition of Nigeria’s automotive sector, concluding that it is in dire straits and needs urgent intervention to put it on the part of recovery.

Jaiyesimi spoke at the 7th edition of the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) training/capacity building workshop in Lagos, with the theme: “Accelerating Automobile Industry Recovery Strategy In Post COVID-19 Era”. 

According to the Deputy Managing Director, CFAO which owns an assembly plant, is not immune to the catalogue of woes that beset the industry, despite their efforts to keep the industry afloat.

Jaiyesimi, who is also the Chairman of the Auto & Allied sub-Sectoral Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry, (LCCI), said CFAO too has been feeling the impact of the prevailing economic situation, but has decided not to lay off their workers. 

Instead, he said, the company converted the assembly workers to after-sales staff.

He urged automotive journalists to do independent investigations into the state of the local auto industry with a view to coming up with informed reports about challenges facing the sector and drawing attention to them.. 

Picking holes in the implementation of the Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) which commenced in 2014 to revitalise the industry, Jaiyesimi noted that the impact has not been felt. 

He remarked, “When the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) came up with the policy, we had it in phases; that is starting with semi knocked down, SKD1 SKD2 and SKD3.”

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“It was expected that after five years, we would have migrated to CKD. By 2014, we should have been in CKD, but we are still in SKD in 2022”.

“Can we even talk of manufacturing tyres today? Tyre manufacturers in Nigeria have migrated to Ghana and I don’t blame them. It is unthinkable that after many years, no headway has been made. Ghana took our auto policy which we gave them and they worked on it.

“Today auto giants like to invest in Ghana instead of Nigeria because of the business friendly environment there. These foreign firms get information from local operators.”

He called for more serious attention to vehicle production in Nigeria, adding that. Ghana now has an advantage over Nigeria. This, according to him, is because with the way things are going, it will come to a point where the nearby country will produce and bring its vehicles across the border to Nigeria, “and that will be the end of our {Nigeria’s} auto industry.”

This year’s training was sponsored by Weststar Associates, franchisees of Mercedes-Benz brand; Stallion Motors, which represents the Nissan, Hyundai, Porsche, MG, and Changan brands; Toyota Nigeria Limited; and CFAO Motor, marketers of Mitsubishi and Suzuki brands in the country. 

Other facilitators at this year’s workshop included Dr. Oscar O. Odiboh, a lecturer  in the Mass Communication department of the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun state; and Kunle Bamidele, Chief Technology Officer, Pro-ICE Ltd. 

Also at the event were representatives of stakeholders, including the Federal Safety Corps (FRSC), NADDC, Weststar Associates, Stallion Motors, and CFAO amongst others. 

NAJA with Mike Ochonma as its current Chairman is the umbrella body of Nigeria’s motoring journalists which cuts across the print and online publications. 

The training is an annual event, organised to refresh the skills of participating journalists on the trends in auto journalism worldwide.