TheCable

Okechukwu Enelamah, minister of industry, trade and investment, says 24 car assembly plants have been revived across the country as a result of the federal automobile policy.

In a statement released on Tuesday by Bisi Daniels, strategy and communications adviser to the minister, he said the plants have a combined capacity of 419,190 units.

A total of 8,628 cars are said to have been produced so far.

“The achievements made so far confirm the high potentials of the policy to grow the automotive sector,” Enelamah said.

“We are excited by the role the automotive industry plays in the strategic and catalytic economic development of countries and we are committed to developing the sector speedily to facilitate the economic diversification of the country.”

Some of the assembly plants said to be back in operation are Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited (PAN), Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Co. (IVM), Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO) and Leyland-Busan.

Also, Dangote Sinotruk West Africa, a $100 million joint venture between Dangote Group and Sinotruk, is expected to assemble and produce heavy duty truck, medium truck, light truck and other semi-trailers.

“It aims to meet an expected current demand of these segments of automobiles required for logistics, construction, food & beverage industries in Nigeria as the government focuses on boosting economic development across the country,” the statement read.

“The company has installed capacity to assemble and produce 10,000 trucks annually and this alone will create 3000 jobs across Nigeria.”

According to the statement, ANAMMCO had downsized in 2011 due to the unfavourable conditions but has recalled 200 of the staff that had been laid off when production was revived.