33 Auto Coys Get N11bn From Automotive Council

The National Automotive Council (NAC) yesterday said that it has given the sum of N11billion to 33 companies in the Nigeria’s automotive sector.
NAC said the money was meant to help address the problem of inadequate capitalisation and funding which it described as a major factor inhibiting the growth of the industry.
Director-general of NAC, Mr Aminu Jalal, said this during a media chat in Abuja.
The DG further disclosed that only three out of the 33 benefitting companies, were involved in vehicle assembly operations, while the rest were local content manufacturers.
He said that the Council would  make made  -in-Nigeria vehicles attractive with  affordable vehicle finance scheme that has repayment window of between three and four years and interest rate of 10 per cent before the end of this year.
According to him, Government was already in talks with operators in the financial sector, including those from South Africa as part of efforts to ensure that access to finance did not affect the implementation of the scheme.
Jalal, who said that the idea was to make locally manufactured vehicles affordable to low income earners in the country added that  the  local content development in vehicle manufacturing, would be difficult  to achieve  without local assembly plants.