The plan to return Nigeria to the path of industrialisation may have finally taken off with the revival of the Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO).
On Thursday, the auto company literally resurrected when the first set of Shacman trucks was rolled out of its plant in Enugu.
The project is the outcome of a joint venture between ANAMMCO and Transit Support Services, a subsidiary of ABC Transport Plc, with Shaanxi Automoble Group of China offering technical support and Fidelity Bank giving the needed finance.
It is also the fallout of the Nigerian Automotive Industrial Development Plan introduced by the Federal Government in September 2013 to encourage local production of vehicles.
Apart from vehicle production from the assembly plant, the Director-General, National Automotive Council, Mr. Aminu Jalal, at the rollout of the Shacman trucks, also gave the far reaching effects of the partnership.
According to him, with the ANAMMCO/Transit Service project, the implementation of the auto policy has entered its second phase, which is the development of automotive local content.
Jalal said, “The production automotive local content is where Nigeria will gain most from the automotive industry. These gains include employment generation and the acquisition of technical know-how that will be used to develop other sectors of the economy.”
Already, he said NAC was acquiring land in three auto clusters, including Anambra-Enugu to develop automotive supplier parks, stressing, “These supplier parks will be provided with the necessary infrastructure to attract manufacturers of automotive local content.”
Analysts have thus noted this as good news to auto spare parts in Nnewi and other parts of the South-East to fully develop their ingenuity; they will also have a big market for their products.
The Chairman, Transit Support Service, Mr. Frank Nneji, also confirmed that the Shacman operations would lead to “the revival of local component manufacturers in diverse areas such as automotive lubricants, batteries, windshields, clutch-cables, mudguards, wiper blades, brake pads, paints and tyre components.”
No wonder the ABC Transport chief executive officer (Nneji) expressed confidence that the new auto policy had the potential of creating 700,000 jobs when fully implemented.
Nneji said the desire of the Transit Services Limited was inspired by the need to take advantage of the auto policy goals, adding, “It was due to this policy that we obtained from the Shaanxi Heavy Duty Automobile Import and Export Company, manufacturers of Shacman, the franchise to assemble and sell Shacman heavy duty and articulated trucks in Nigeria.”
He sought the support of all tiers of government in sustaining the project through continuos patronage of the company’s products.
“The extent to which this venture will succeed depends a lot on how much mutual and collaborative effort government and private organisations are capable of building. The relationship between the private and public sectors must go on beyond today’s event,” he said.
The Chairman of ANAMMCO, Chief Godwin Okeke, noted that the nation had every reason to rank well among leading automobile countries in the world considering its huge population and expertise in auto engineering and related fields.
He said, “Our automobile industry is a key enabler of our march towards industrialisation and economic transformation because of its immense potential to contribute to growth of the Gross Domestic Product, build human capital and generate multiplier quality employment.”
The ANAMMCO chairman also noted that the partnership with Transit Services would lead to acquisition of technology and the development of Small and Medium Enterprises.
He lamented that while Nigeria was importing over 400,000 vehicles annually, the combined capacity of the local manufacturing plants was put at 70,000 vehicles.
“I am proud to say that the installed capacity at ANAMMCO is 7,500 units of trucks and 1,000 units of buses in one shift of production, translating to 22,500 units of trucks and 3,000 units of buses in a three-shift production regime,” Okeke said.
The President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Udemba Jacobs, said the ANAMMCO/Transit initiative had rekindled the hope of reviving several ailing companies and dead ones.
He specifically said the project would benefit the industrial sector and indeed the country in at least five ways.
Jacobs said, “First, it is a positive sign that the manufacturing concerns which had folded up due to unfriendly operating environment can be resuscitated. The second is that with a friendlier operating environment and adequate support from government, ailing manufacturing concerns can be revived. The third is the fact that this portends a great hope for manufacturing concerns currently expressing downturn in business; fourthly, it is evident that the performance of the manufacturing sector can be further improved through public private sector partnership and initiatives. And finally, this rollout is a pointer that government’s target of creating employment for the army of unemployed youths is achievable through manufacturing investment, the reactivation of ailing industries and resuscitation of those that have gone moribund.”
He recalled that ANAMMCO, which commenced operation in 1980 after its incorporation in 1977, resorted to skeletal operations when it experienced a downturn and eventually shut down production due to operational and business environment related challenges.
“This same company moribund for several years is rolling out assembled trucks today, courtesy of an assembly contract agreement it signed with Transit Support Services Limited.”
The presence of Jalal, who represented the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, and representatives of the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar; his counterpart in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State and Governor Chief Willie Obiano of Anambra State, at the event gave an indication of expected government’s patronage of vehicles from the company.
In the face of the naira’s fluctuation and high interest rate, the issue of sustained funding for the project has thus become a major factor to keep the production going.
But it does appear that Fidelity Bank has some clue as its representative at the event, the Executive Director, (South Directorate), Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, said the bank believed in the project and described it as a “partnership that works.”
Before the rut set in, the story of ANAMMCO was a sweet one. The auto company, which was a joint venture between the Federal Government of Nigeria and Daimler Chrysler AG of Germany, was reputed for assembling Mercedes Benz trucks and buses. – Punch.
Thank God for Anamco revival and production of Trucks in Enugu.Let this new effort be sustained and bravo to Jonathan,peter Obi ,fidelitybank and Abc transport.