|
|
Nigeria: We Need Government to Achieve Our Dream - PAN Boss
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Leadership (Abuja)
11 November 2007
Posted to the web 12 November 2007
Teddy Nwanunobi
Indigenous automobile heavyweight, Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) Limited, has called on the federal government to assist it in achieving its dream of becoming Africa's "biggest and best manufacturers of automobile".
The chairman of ASD Motors, Alhaji Sani Dauda, made the appeal while speaking with LEADERSHIP Sunday recently in his office in Kaduna.
Speaking on his projection for PAN Limited, Dauda also disclosed that the nation has a lot of substandard motorbikes being brought in, and said that the auto company can save the nation from such situation.
"We see PAN, in the next 10 years, as the biggest and best manufacturer of automobiles in Africa. We also see PAN as not only manufacturing cars but also manufacturing motorcycles of the highest quality. Many Nigerians do not know that a lot of motorcycles that are brought into the country are highly substandard. We will produce motorcycles and cars that are the best in terms of technology, and in terms of being environment friendly," he assured.
Dauda, however, noted that the dream would be impossible to achieve without the support of the federal government, adding that such support covers special waivers which enable the auto companies to stabilise.
"The automobile industry is never left alone to operate without government's protection in any country that has a successful automobile industry. Governments of those countries give their automobile companies 100 per cent. So, why should my own story be different? Once the automobile firms become stable, the government will continuously benefit in terms of employment of the citizens, income through taxes, and so on. The unarguable truth is that a nation grows once its local investors have their businesses protected by the government," he said.
Dauda was particularly not pleased that Brazil, whose auto industry was established in the same year as that of Nigeria, has gone very far, producing aircraft while the country is yet to start anything meaningful.
|
"In many other nations, their automobile companies are even producing military equipment like anti-tank weapons. Why should their Nigerian counterparts not do the same? Brazil's industry was established in the same year as ours, and they are already producing aircraft while we are still scratching to start from the beginning. This is simply because support and protection from our government has been anything but enough or encouraging. We would like to see a situation where our government would borrow a leaf from successful automobile nations and protect this industry jealously," he stated.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2007 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
