Innoson say it sources 60% of its parts locally and manufactures all its carcases in Nigeria

NIGERIAN automobile maker the Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company has revealed that it has now developed to a stage whereby it uses as much as 60% of locally manufactured components in producing its vehicles.

Based in Nnewi in Anambra State, Innoson is Nigeria's only indigenous car manufacturer and produces a range of vehicles for the domestic market. When it began operations, Innoson was importing its parts from Japan, China, and Germany but now, the company has built up a network of local suppliers.

Chief Innocent Chukwuma, the company chairman, said: “We make all the carcass of all our vehicles here but we import some engines and electrical and body parts. However, we produce all the plastic parts here.

“We have produced many new vehicles according to the demands of the customers and what they need those vehicles for. Even if they need what we do not have, we can make the mould and produce their request and specifications, which is why we are a vehicle manufacturing company, not an assembling company."

Emeka Okwuosa, the chairman of Oilserv Group of Companies, an oil and gas firm that purchases its vehicles from Innoson said his firm was committing over N600m to procure cars soon. He urged the federal government to invest massively to improve infrastructure in Nigeria.

Mr Okwuosa stressed the need for the federal government to encourage industries and roll out good policies that would enable businesses to thrive. He urged the government to articulate and provide the capacity and the enabling environment that would make sure that local industries survive.

He added: “I believe that we should develop local capacity, capacity building not just in terms of infrastructure but human capacity development which should start from education to training. Mr Okwuosa said he also believed that Nigeria would develop more than we could imagine because the country has people that are capable of thinking and working hard.