National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP): Nigeria's Quest and Setbacks in becoming a Vehicle Manufacturing Hub
In July 2015, the automotive industry in Nigeria witnessed an epoch event. It was the reopening of the Volkswagen car assembly plant after 20 long years! The plant located along the Badagry expressway received a new lease of life through a partnership agreement between the German car manufacturer and the Stallion group, a private auto company. According to the Chairman of the company, Sunil Vaswani, the plant had already started the assembling of trucks, buses, pick-ups, and passenger vehicles. IVM G5 by Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Co. Ltd. For many observers, this was the result of the National automotive industry development plan announced in 2014. The policy aims to encourage local manufacturing of vehicles by local and foreign manufacturers and also seeks to reduce the importation of used cars into the country. The policy, which embodies the country's hope to become Africa's auto manufacturing hub, has not been without setbacks. In September 2019, the Minister of Industry...