The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah doused all tensions in a filled hall during an event organised for discussion on Nigeria’s auto industry in a hotel at Victoria Island, Lagos a few days ago

The minister revealed that, “the FGN has identified the auto industry as a strategic driver of industrialisation and committed to implementing the NAIDP,”  in his presentation, titled: ‘NAIDP: Setting a Strategic Implementation Framework’. Enelamah’s words of assurance was the first commitment the vehicle manufacturers were getting from the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, since its inception since last year May, that it would not scrap the NAIDP instituted by the past government for Nigeria’s industrial development.
Thisday informed that The ‘Stakeholder Forum on the Nigerian Automotive: Setting an Implementation Agenda for National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) was called by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in partnership with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in Lagos of recent. The trade minister, who said he was at the forum to listen to the who is who in the auto industry, advised them to take ownership of the plan in order proffer solution to its successful implementation, saying: “We will like to see ownership of implementation, including ownership and resolution of the problems that will inevitably arise, by the industry’s stakeholders.”
He said he was at the meeting to give government’s political will and to join hands with the auto industry stakeholders to get the implementation solutions that are necessary. Enelamah said Nigeria can not afford not to have an effective auto policy because of its relevance to the auto sector as a “Key component of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), aimed at diversifying the economy; and increasing the manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP.”
According to the minister, some of the possible benefits of a vibrant auto policy are employment generation; skills/technology acquisition; FOREX earning/savings, among others. He said the NAIDP was formulated to ensure an orderly development of the auto industry which had suffered several implementation challenges like lack of complete buy-in by all stakeholders and the nation’s difficult macro-economic conditions. Enalemah said there was need for complete buy-in by all stakeholders and for them to “accept where you are now, where you want to be in future and how you are going to get there. Where you are now accommodates all the mistakes of the past; all the regrets of the past. You can actually forget the things that are behind and press ahead.” The minister spoke extensively on all the necessary measures put in place by the present government to see Nigeria leads in the auto manufacturing sector. The idea to develop something new, just like vehicle manufacturing in the Southeastern part of the country, is laudable, as some Nigerians as well as Africans invented things like plant-based affordable anti-malaria drugs and the Tryctor, a hybrid tractor-motorcycle
SOURCE: Naij.com newsThisDay