THE NIGERIAN CAR DILEMMA: WHAT LOCAL CAR MANUFACTURERS NEED TO WIN THE HEART OF NIGERIAN DRIVERS.

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One thing we've all noticed, and I bet we all noticed on our roads is that we barely see new cars or cars that came out immediately that year, an average car on the road in Nigeria is at least over ten years old. The reasons for that are basically high exchange rates, taxes, prices, economic inflation and e.t.c. The painful thing is that we actually have car companies in Nigeria like Nord, Lanre Shittu Motors, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) and others, we also have major distributors and others for other car companies like Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan, JAC, and e.t.c and these are Completely Knocked Down.

​My major issue with Nigerian car brands and companies is firstly, they don't carry and represent our continent well, they repress the African identity and they adopt the identity of our ex suppressors, at this point we ought to see cars branded with African designs and so many others.

​Secondly, the pricing does not reflect and adequately express the African economic situation in Nigeria, because tell me how and a brand new Nigerian car is going for over ₦20 million Naira, something that has not been proven in the market, with limited spare parts distribution, little to no popularity amongst Nigerian users and I trust my country folk, they would rather use that 20 million naira to purchase a foreign used (Tokunbo) car from a recent year at that same price due to its availability, popularity and easy replacement of faulty parts and spare parts.

​Further, imagine building a platform where the products sold are copied from bigger brands with no improvements. In 2020, I watched a documentary about Nord and their manufacturing process, was modeled after Ford, even their name and it's the same old story with many other Nigerian companies are also dogmatic and refuse to innovate their design and manufacturing and decide to point themselves as copies of bigger brands, more like House of Smart does for perfumes, but Nigerian companies charge the same amount and even more than the big brands, plus there is no originality.

​Then we also have the mentality as Nigerians that nothing good can come out of Nigeria!, and I don't blame them, I mean we've seen a lot of Nigerian brands like My pikin teething powder, cabin biscuit amongst others either failed or faded into irrelevance, till we are able to gain the trust of our people again, we cannot move beyond this issue.

​Lack of adequate hands and other essential factors of production also contribute to this issue as this leads to massive importation of raw materials and foreign specialists which significantly drive up production price. These firms as they prefer to spend heavy on producing vehicles which are more expensive and seem like white elephant projects as they're getting no returns on their investment as they got not too much for tax and other reserve and thus the Ubuntu philosophy is killed as no one is being lifted, lifted or raising except Japanese and American companies who don't care about us!

​To solve these issues, first of all, the individuals in charge of such organizations should partner with the government to get some "sponsorship" deals of government contracts, this will not only reinforce trust and kill the "nothing good can never come out of Nigeria" mentality but will also gain the trust of citizens in Nigerian automobiles.

​Furthermore, the government should federalize and revive steel companies, iron companies, motor engine companies and get them revived, these are the basic factors of production for automobiles, without these, we cannot dominate the auto world, the Ajaokuta Steel Company is still there gathering dust and ghostworkers are being paid in several millions without any reasonable output.

​Also, the cars should be made easily affordable to the common and ordinary man, after all, it is an indigenous product and it should be able to aid and simplify the lives of the common and average man. Flexible payment methods, should also be utilized especially for civil servants and transportation workers with the use of legal means and machinery, it could even come in the form of hire purchase agreements as the case may be.

​Spare parts and other relevant tools for repairing such vehicles must be made readily available in the market and the government can assist in making sure such goods are original and are of a good quality and not substandard by making use of Quality Assurance sticker, make use of Intellectual Property Protection and prosecution of counterfeit sellers through appropriate channels following the due process of law.

​Moving on, the products must represent our roots and origins in the design and structure and should be adequately developed to combat our rough and tattered Nigerian roads, the government can also assist in the road situation by repairing roads and maintaining them regularly.

​This essay has a lot of requirements which would take time to implement, but as time goes on, we'll get there, may be not now, but in the nearest future!