Just recently, my attention was captured by a news report about Africa and Nigeria’s richest billionaire, Aliko Dangote partnering with the Kano and Kaduna State Government to establish a Peugeot automobile parts assembly plant, under the brand name “Dangote Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria Limited’’, and I was flaumoxxed by the myopic thinking of some people who were suffering from an inferiority complex.
Indeed, it wasn’t and is never a crime to criticise an individual, group, institution or government that fails to carry out its duties to the society but of what use are these criticisms if they are not constructive and based on logical reasoning. People rather react to issues based on their sentiments, ideological and social differences instead of rational thinking.
“Dangote no dey pay tax”, “Dangote be naija problem”, “Na so the country bad reach”, “Dem wan push Innoson comot from market because him be Igbo man’’, “The National Assembly go approve him car as government official vehicles”, “Hausa people love themselves, dem no want make Igbo man grow”, “Dangote na opportunist, and FG go support am”, were a farrago of gibberish, unfactual and water-losing statements being uttered by some people who taught they were right.
The business mogul never even decided on establishing his own car manufacturing company, but only worked with the Kaduna and Kano State Government to jointly establish a vehicle assembly plant. Surprisingly, he is not the first man to establish a vehicle asembly company and yet look at the angry reactions from people who seem to think he was bringing an end to their own.
Assembling of cars does not even generate more revenue and employment opportunities as a Car manufacturing industry would, but the Kano and Kaduna State Government collaborating with Dangote to invest in their own is worth it.
People claim to be educated but they do not understand the idea of capitalism, which does not support exploitation and monopoly but healthy competition, and they also seem to be largely misinformed about what economic growth entails.
How many Nigerians even patronize their own locally-made products? If we’re to rapidly develop economically, we are supposed to patronise our own. What if Dangote had decided to establish his own car manufacturing company? Shouldn’t the development be welcomed instead of being despised and seen as a plot.
This set of people claimed that the federal government planned to push Innocent Chukwuma out of the market because he was an Igbo man. They do not know that no administration has ever supported, empowered, patronized, given financial life and a conducive environment to the Innoson Motors than the Buhari Administration. The Vehicles, such as the Armoured Tanks and Army Personnel Carrier being used by the Nigerian Army were produced by Innoson Motors. The Pick-up vehicles currently used by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) were produced by Innoson Motors, but still, the view is that they want to push him out of the business, not knowing that under the previous administration, he struggled to gain prominence and financial strength.
How many Nigerians complaining about a planned failure of Innocent Chukwuma’s business currently use the IVM or are planning to purchase an IVM? Hardly will you find any of them with the local product. They do not patronise but find it easy to come up with unnecessary arguments. They complained and attributed Ibeto’s car manufacturing industry’s failure to the federal government but how many of them did patronise Ibeto’s product. Some of them still talk about getting the latest Mercedes-Benz, Range Rover Sport or Toyota. How many of their governors even approved the use of the IVM, but still the focus is on Dangote who established a common car manufacturing plant.
I felt dismal seeing a misleading report by a blog describing the owner of Innoson Motors as the sole vehicle manufacturer in Nigeria ignorant of the fact that there was Oluwatobi Ajayi, the owner of Nord Automobiles, and Adetokunbo Ogundeyin, the owner of Proforce, a company that manufactures armoured vehicles in Nigeria.
If the likes of Arthur Eze, Tony Elumelu, Femi Otedola, Mike Adenuga and Obi Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana, or any another extremely rich Igbo man had decided to establish a car manufacturing or vehicle assembly plant, this sort of reaction would have never seen the light of the day.
If Nigeria as a nation is to progress economically, we must not see our locally made products as inferior and start to patronise it, be it automobiles, textiles, agricultural commodities.
