A maritime activism group; the Save Nigerian Freight Forwarders Importers Exporters Coalition has tasked the Minister of industry Trade and Investment Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah to be creative by ensuring that the Buhari-led government takes a position on either to scrap or redesign the automotive policy, which was introduced by the Ex- President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
National Coordinator of the maritime group, Chief Patrick Osita Chukwu gave the advice in a chat with Auto Port Weekly in Lagos, even as he called on the minister to look inward and see how issues surrounding the automotive policy can be addressed.
Osita urged the minister to meet with genuine foreign investors to bring their equipment to Nigerians for the aim of vehicles manufacturing in the country.
According to him, there are ways the minister can present the situation on the automotive policy to the President that would attract him to take a position and make policy statement, he urged the minister to consult experts on how to make the policy attractive to the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly.
Osita alleged that the President Buhari government is not a listening leader, adding that the controversies surrounding the automotive policy would have been addressed if the President had listened.
He added that the policy has good intentions of making Nigeria a car-manufacturing nation in West Africa, but the facilities, manpower and enabling environment were not yet in place to drive the process.
He advised the government to create an enabling environment where manufacturing of cars can thrive, even as he maintained that importation of cars should be encourage until issue of power supply has been addressed by government.
Osita said "the policy is dead and the minister should start and thinking outside the box for the policy to be relevant"
"The Buhari government is confused, because there are major policies put in place by the immediate past administration that needs urgent attention; like the auto policy"
"That policy favoured only few individuals yet the government of the day is not bothered about taking a stand on it”, he added.
Discussion about this post