The automotive policy, according to the Trade and Industry Minister, Dr Olusegun Aganga, will create 700,000 jobs when ‘fully implemented’. Is this a sign that unemployment will soon be tamed. OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE writes in the jobs hope raised by the policy.
Though it has caused a row in the industry, the Automative Policy has its good sides, it will generate jobs. The policy will pave the way for auto companies to hire engineers, technicians, spray painters and factory workers.
Some of the jobs to be created are in the formal and informal sectors of the economy. Graduates, especially of engineering, will be employed; so also will school certificate holders and software developers.
The employees will be part of a larger workforce in the production lines of car manufacturing companies. These lines will create jobs for ancillary industries that will produce the parts required to build a modern vehicle.
It is common to think of the auto industry as just for the production of cars and trucks, whereas its jobs range anywhere from the conceptual stage of an automobile to its sales and service years after production.
Car transport, sales, repair, marketing, and various other positions all fall under the auspices of the industry. Designers of automobiles are usually engineers responsible for drawing up new car designs and testing those designs for functionality and aesthetics. The involvement of the designers in production can vary, but they are important in the initial phases of design and production.
The employees will require formal education and training regarding computer programmes used in vehicle design.
Designers and fabricators who have computer or engineering background will also be in hot demand.
A consultant to Stallion Group and Head Consultant, Media Advocate Ltd, Mr Manny Phillipson, said the initiative was a job enhancer, adding that it will not only boost revenue from taxes and duties, but also grow the economy. He projected that when fully implemented, the policy in its first year of implementation would create over a thousand job.
He said: “The concept is not about making Nigeria cars alone, but rather job creation, which is what the nation dearly needs at this point of her development. We cannot have over 170 million people and continue to import cars.”
It has been projected that implementation of the policy will create over 100,000 jobs in its first years in direct employment in the production plants and much more than that in the ancillary sector. The policy has a multiplier effect in the ancillary sector as the manufacturer of a single car unit consists of several parts that are usually manufactured by different companies.
Another area of job creation is the establishment of spare parts manufacturing plants to feed the automotive industry. University of Lagos don and media Consultant to CFAO Group, Dr Oscar Odiboh, said infrastructure has to be made available for the initiative to have a smooth sail.
He added that the policy on its own cannot stand, but can only be effective if the necessary infrastructure are put in place to stimulate the manufacturing process.
“Critical infrastructure such as constant supply of power is not available in the country, the steel industry needs to revitalise as they are the primary raw materials for car production. There is a need to encourage the spare parts manufacturing sector and also create a conducive environment that will lure investors into the sector,” he said. Odiboh advised the government to do all that is necessary to see to the successful implementation of the policy because of its huge economic potential.
The new national automotive policy is expected to, among other things, end the importation of cars into the country. The Federal Government said the policy would encourage local manufacturing of vehicles and enforce a gradual phase out of used cars, popularly known as Tokunbo.
According to the Federal Government’s projection, with strict implementation of the policy, a brand new car locally produced would sell for less than N1.5 million.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Oulsegun Aganga, said when the policy is fully implemented, it would create a minimum of 700,000 jobs.
He regretted that car importation took the chunk of the country’s foreign reserves after machinery.
Hard earned foreign exchange will also be saved. According to the government, $4.2 billion was spent on the importation of cars in 2010 while another $3.4 billion went for the import of cars last year.
The Director-General, National Automotive Council (NAC) Aminu Jalal said the new automotive policy is different from the old policy in that it has all the elements to develop the market-skills and infrastructure. It will help to check smuggling as well as develop local content.
He said: “We have specific provisions for all these, the policy is a deliberate government effort to release a strategic and critical economic sector from the strangulating grip of dumping, and to allow it grow and flourish with all the attendant benefits including massive employment.”
An industry analysts and project manager of Automacs Technologies Limited, Mr Nkem Ogon-siegbe, said the new automotive policy is boom time for construction, such as engineers and computer professionals who will be expected to develop software and other innovations. He said today’s cars are wonders on wheels and come with new safety features, such as a system that warns drivers when large animals are on their path or the ones that give directions to drivers.
Real estate professionals would also be gainfully engaged if the policy becomes successful as many companies will look for bigger space for operations or modify abandoned properties to soothe the new production lines of the auto industries he added.
He also said the auto industry’s stepped-up hiring will help sustain the nation’s job growth and help fuel consumer spending as more people would be gainfully employed. To meet that demand, Ogonsiegbe said automakers must find more people while the hundreds of companies that will make parts for automakers will have to hire top professionals and artisans to keep up. As volume of manufacturing lines go up, the various companies will add more heads.
However, he wondered if the highly skilled professionals and skilful artisans that would be needed by the industry, including designers, machinists and welders can be fully obtained locally.
His fears may not be baseless as the brain drain and the constant resort to strikes by university lecturers have taken a toll on the available skilled man power in the country. Added to this is the turning out of half-baked graduates. This, too, has the potential to challenge the good intention of the initiatve in job creation.
