GOVT ADVISED TO PATRONIZE MADE IN NIGERIA CARS

The Lagos chapter, Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (NIMechE) has appealed to the Federal Government to purchase made-in-Nigeria cars for political office holders and its agencies, to grow the automobile industry in Nigeria.

NIMechE chairman, Mr Abdulganiyu Tiamiyu who made the call on monday in Lagos at a press conference on the 2022 Engineering Week of the institution said that government policies on the automobile industry have been inconsistent and have affected its growth in the country.

He called for a review of the nation’s Automobile Policy to make federal government and its agencies purchase and use made-in-Nigeria cars to 

encourage other citizens to patronise the sector.

He said that the Nigerian Society of Engineers and its divisions have been clamouring for the federal government to make the local content laws more viable by engaging indigenous engineers and patronising home made products.

“Government policies are usually partially implemented or not implemented at all, this is why we are calling on more engineers to go into politics; it is government policies that have affected the automobile industry,” he said.

Tiamiyu disclosed that the engineering week with the theme “Get it right, adopt standard” will dwell extensively on promotion of standards in the automobile industry to reduce all forms of accidents and disasters.

He said that experts from the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, transportation and other industries will profer solutions to issues of standards enforcement in Nigeria and hold technical training for engineers and technicians.

A former NIMechE’s chairman of Lagos chapter, Mr Segun Fadeyi also said that Nigeria can only make progress in the area of automotibile assembly if the federal government believes in the capacity of indigenous engineers.

He recalled that in the 1990s, Leyland Motors had an assembly plant for Range Rovers, but the then government of President Olusegun Obasanjo still imported the vehicle brand instead of patronising the home made assembly to grow the sector.

He condemned the trend of continuous importation of cars by politicians stressing that it is necessary for more engineers to go into politics so as to push for policies that will accelerate the development of the country’s infrastructure.