2 things preventing the country's automotive industry from growing

The Federal Government has announced some very lofty goals for it's automotive industry.

According to Luqman Mamudu, Director of Policy and Planning for the National Automotive Council, the government intends to increase the number of vehicles assembled in Nigeria by 80%.

In order to achieve this goal, the government has provided some incentives intended to convince foreign auto companies to have assembly plants in Nigeria.

While lots of people think this is a good and achievable goal, there is a school of thought that thinks this is almost impossible, based on these challenges.

Ayo Teriba, the Chief Executive Officer of an advisory firm called Economic Associates Ltd., thinks the lack of these things serve as a major obstruction to the government's plan.

"It is wishful thinking. If you have to transport your inputs by trucks instead of rail, you won’t be competitive. We have to render the business environment competitive.’’

I certainly agree that the lack of power and rail infrastructure goes a long in hindering the Federal Government's plan to have more locally assembled vehicles and invite foreign auto companies.

However, i am optimistic that these things can be fixed.

Once this is done, Nigeria will be well on it's way to becoming ‘Africa’s next automotive hub’, as predicted by PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC).

What do you think?