Federal Road Safety Corps gets approval to purchase 21 vehicles from Innoson Motors

NIGERIA'S federal government has approved the purchase of 21 vehicles by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) from indigenous motor company Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing as part of a drive to boost local manufacturers.

Based in Nnewi in Anambra State, Innoson is Nigeria's only indigenous car manufacturer but so far, has failed to attract widespread government patronage. To enable it compete with rival automobile companies worldwide, Innoson needs African governments and their agencies to purchase its vehicles on an industrial scale.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's information minister, confirmed that this latest contract was for the sum of N660,422,220 and it’s made up of 20 pick-up vehicles and one city bus. He added is in the spirit of encouraging our local industries that the contract was awarded to Innoson Motors.

Back in 2020, Innoson Motors asked the Nigerian government to offer it a N4bn ($10.5m) loan to enable it convert its Nnewi car plant into one that can manufacture ventilators so it can contribute towards the fight against coronavirus. Innoson said that a N4bn loan will help fast-track its production of ventilators and protective gears that may prove critical in Nigeria’s battle to mitigate the effects of Covid-19.

Despite having a huge population of 200m people, Nigeria manufacturers very few finished products and does not produce most of the consumer goods used by its populace. There are currently about 12m automobiles in Nigeria but the nation only has one manufacturing plant in Innoson Motors and very few automobile companies have assembly plants in the country.