September 21, (THEWILL) – Chief Valentine Okorie, investor and promoter of the car assembly plant in Itu, Akwa Ibom state, has stated that the plant will start rolling out cars in commercial quantity from the first quarter of 2022.
The investor made this known during a tour of the facility to ascertain the work progress. He said the plant, located at Ikot Ukap Itam, will have the capacity to produce 1,000 vehicles yearly.
Okorie, the chief executive officer, Nimshack Transportation Technologies Limited, lauded Governor Udom Emmanuel’s administration for creating a conducive environment for private investors to come into the state.
He mentioned that the state government, in keeping with its industralisation drive, had acquired land for the plant’s siting and constructed a dedicated power line to feed the automobile plant.
He said the recent delays suffered were due to the COVID-19 pandemic and certain federal government policies.
He disclosed that the firm is working with an Israeli automobile manufacturer, Mervan, as its technical partner. The partnership involves technology transfer and backward integration, which favors the state and Nigeria at large.
He called on the federal government to make more reforms in the ease of doing business in the country.
“The plant is about 90 percent completed. Everything you see here is prefabricated and brought in for installation, as you can see the electrical, the production area and the spraying area have been completed. We have fixed the offices, and I can assure you that in the next six months, commercial vehicles from this plant will be in the market.
“Our target is to produce 1000 vehicles in a year. We must commend the state government for looking at other ways of generating allocation for the state, not just the allocation, but something that can generate jobs and employment for the people.
“The government has assisted us by providing this land free and we have a dedicated power line drawn to the factory,” Okorie explained.
He called on governments at all levels to invest in the transportation sub-sector, which he argued could generate thousands of jobs and other investment opportunities.
“This is the first vehicle assembly plant in the South-South region. What Innoson is doing as a private investor is commendable, but, we are coming to take the automobile industry to another level because of the types of vehicles that would be assembled here.
“Other assembly plants like PAN, Volkswagen and ANNAMCO came and gone, but we are coming to stay.
“Government should invest in the transport sector, like this assembly plant now, it has the capacity to generate over 10,000 jobs and other business opportunities, by the time we are fully operational. Think of people producing oil filters, fuel filters, car batteries, break-pads and even those supplying items to the company, not to talk of direct employment,” Okorie added.
