The Vice President of the nation, Yemi Osinbajo has noted that Nigerians spend a whopping $8bn on importing cars from outside the country.
The VP was speaking at the 19th Abuja Motor Fair on Tuesday where he was represented by the Director-General, National Automotive Design and Development Council, Jelani Aliyu
“The government is fully committed to industrialisation and the mining sector to enable it create direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians” He said
“About 8 billion dollars goes to overseas for importation of vehicles while Nigerians are suffering, also most of the used vehicles imported are unsafe and not good for the citizens,’’
Osinbajo added that to improve manufacturing in Nigeria, the government has gone on to sign an MOU with Volkswagen group to develop an automotive hub in Nigeria.
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The Vice President is of the belief that this document will go a long way in growing the automotive industry and thereby diversify the Nigerian economy.
With Nigeria’s overwhelming reliance on oil, it has long been mooted that the country is in need of another source of income.
Therefore, the government has been hard at work exploring all sorts of avenues to make this a reality.
Osinbajo said that the automotive parts industrial park located in Nnewi has gotten its master plan and would soon be functional.