A new investor, Nesbitt Investment Nigeria Limited, has taken over the management of Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) limited as the core investor and plan to inject $150m. The company says that the investment will be used for retooling and upgrading of the assembly line, support infrastructure and for working capital over the next three years.
According to the new Chairman of the PAN Ahmed Aliyu, the firm would soon roll out new and affordable vehicles for Nigerians
“We treasure our human capital and strongly believe in them to drive our visions and aspirations for PAN Nigeria and that is why we are immediately putting in place an attractive condition of service that will retain and motivate our human capital and also attract the best hands, so as to restore PAN Nigeria to it’s number one position in Nigeria and within the ECOWAS region.” he added.
“PAN under the supervision of the board shall undergo massive restructuring, and in so doing, we shall observe strict governance protocols, transparency, business integrity, efficiency and ethics in all our undertakings”.
Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited is one of the first vehicle assembly plants set up in Nigeria. It was conceived in 1969 by the then Federal Military Government under the leadership of General Yakubu Gowon. It was set up as a joint venture between the Federal Government and AP France, was incorporated on December 15, 1972 and 27 months after incorporation, the Kaduna based assembly plant was commissioned by General Yakubu Gowon on March 11, 1975.
PAN commenced production on March 2, 1975 with an annual output of 60,000 cars, improving substantially to 90,000 cars per annum in the 1980s.
In November 2006, PAN was privatized in line with Government’s agenda to build a stronger, more competitive and diversified economy; ASD Motors emerged as the successful core investor and took over management of the company in January 2007. The expectation was that the privatization of PAN would create a quantum leap in performance, but that has not happened as planned.
Following the accumulation of huge non-performing loans (NPL) indebtedness to banks, in October 2012, the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) acquired the debts of the company and converted a portion to equity to help restructure the firm.
To revive the dead automobile industry, the Nigerian government introduced the Nigerian automotive policy in November 2013 which allowed local assembly plants to import completely-knocked-down vehicles at 0% duty, and semi-knocked-down vehicles at 5% duty, while importers pay a 70% duty on new and previously-owned vehicles. About 54 licenses have been granted.
To further enforce strict regulation of the importation of vehicles as influx of vehicles, particularly used vehicles were affecting sales, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) placed a ban on the importation of vehicles through land borders effective January 1, 2017.
The Chairman assured that ” PAN Nigeria will be introducing new brands of vehicles into the market to re-launch brand affordability in Nigeria, such that Nigerians will have access to brand new vehicles.” He further assured of introducing a robust car financing scheme which will be a collaboration and partnership between our dealerships and a few selected banks.
“PAN Nigeria as the number one auto assembly plant in Nigeria shall take the leadership role in engaging stakeholders such as the National Assembly, the Federal ministry of trade , industry and investment (FMITI), Nigeria Automabile Design and Development Council (NADDC) Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) etc.
“PAN Nigeria shall be involved in the activities of the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) committee set up to examine the auto industry.
” Our biggest concern is the over 50 numbers of Assembly plants who have not made any matching investments and are enjoying the incentives of the auto policy at the same time”.
It is hoped that this time, Nesbitt will be able to turn the fortunes of the company.
