...As Nissan partner Stallion Group to provide
affordable cars
President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has said in Davos,
Switzerland that his administration is fully committed to rapidly developing
Nigeria's automobile industry through the diligent implementation of the
country's new national automotive policy.
Speaking at a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of
Nissan Motors, Mr. Carlos Ghosn and representative of Nissan's partners in Nigeria,
Mr. Sunil Vaswani, who is the Chairman of Stallion Group, President Jonathan said
the key objective of the new policy was to make new cars affordable to more
Nigerians.
"The only way to reduce the preponderance of second
hand cars on our roads is to produce good quality cars with affordable pricing
locally," the President said.
Welcoming the Nissan group's investment in vehicle
production in Nigeria, President Jonathan noted that all investors in local
automobile production in the country will have a huge ready market for their
products.
"The automobile industry in Nigeria has a huge
potential for growth. The market is not just Nigeria, but the entire West
African region," the President observed.
Mr. Ghosn applauded the Federal Government's new automotive
policy, saying that it would encourage the inflow of investments and technical
expertise to boost domestic vehicle production.
The Nissan CEO informed President Jonathan that Nissan
Motors plans to roll-out the first made in Nigeria 4 X 4 Utility SUV in April
this year using the JV Stallion Group Automobile plant owned by its
partners.
It is known that Nissan has partnered with the multibillion
dollar conglomerate and regional automotive giant Stallion Group for assembly
for its vehicles in Nigeria.
Mr. Ghosn and Sunil Vaswani, Stallion’s Group Chairman had
announced the partnership in October 2013 shortly after the policy was
announced.
Mr. Ghosn who said that it was possible to produce two to
three million cars in Nigeria annually with the consequent creation of
thousands of direct and indirect jobs, told the President that Nissan intends
to increase its investments in Nigeria together with Stallion Group.
"We are interested in producing popular cars, totally
adapted to the needs of Nigerians," he said, adding that the company also
plans to bring its global suppliers to make vehicle components in the country.
President Jonathan also met with President Jakaya Kikwete of
Tanzania who assured him of his personal participation in the World Economic
Forum on Africa scheduled to take place in Abuja in May this year.
The idea of the automotive policy, he stressed repeatedly, is to ensure affordable cars and vehicles in the country.
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