Owing to their relevance to the ceremony, certain words and phrases were repeatedly used at the recent presentation of Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) certificate to Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited {IVM} by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria {SON} in Nnewi.
Largely used in favour of IVM, they included quality standards, indigenous auto plant, {National Assembly’s} disdain for made-in-Nigeria, laudable achievements, consumer confidence, global competiveness, patronage, excellence in local entrepreneurship, role model in auto manufacturing, conformity, and value or money, among others.
But, the Director General/ Chief Executive, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Osita Aboloma, aroused curiosity and grabbed the attention of all the guests at the Martina Chukwuma Plaza in Umudim, Nnewi, when he addressed the Chairman of Innoson Group, Dr. Innocent Chukwuma as “Innoson The Dreamer.”
The DG revealed that the entrepreneur had many years ago sworn that he would one day be an auto maker in Nigeria. With all ears lent to him, Aboloma said, “About 19 years ago, Chukwuma, in a conversation with me swore, saying, ‘Aga m emeliri moto n’Nigeria’ {one day in this country, I would be an auto maker”}.
This was confirmed by Chief Chukwuma himself in an interview after the event held on Wednesday, February 12. He said the informal interaction with Aboloma, then a practicing lawyer, was held at a sports club in Enugu.
In a citation that followed the Director General’s remarks, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria noted that in diversifying into motor vehicle manufacturing, Chukwuma plans to re-enact what had been previously dubbed the ‘industrial revolution’ he had caused in the motorcycle industry when he commenced the assembly of bikes in Nnewi.
“IVM mission is to drastically reduce the prices of vehicles and cut down the country’s dependence on imported vehicles. They did it with motorcycles; they want to do it again with motor vehicles.”
The story of how Innoson drove tokunbo motorcycles out of the market with cheaper locally assembled new bikes began when after learning the ropes as an apprentice trader, he established Innoson in 1981.
He subsequently grew his spare parts business to the level where it was viable enough to advance to the importation of new motorcycles in a skillful and unprecedented manner – by first dismantling them in China and packing the components in long containers and re-assembling them on arrival at his Nnewi base.
And, because the containers brought in many more motorcycles when dismantled than when packed as fully built, the Nnewi plant ended up assemblying about thrice more units than when imported whole, thereby reducing costs considerably.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK