Osinbajo highlights Kia Nigeria role in Nigeria’s economic diversification

Vice President, His Excellency, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has highlighted the significant role Kia Nigeria is playing in the drive towards economic diversification and Nigeria’s industrialization through the made-in-Nigeria Kia cars initiative.

Osinbajo gave the commendation while touring the exhibition booth at the Abuja Center of the 14th Annual Banking & Finance Conference.

The Vice President was impressed to know that Kia has the capacity to produce 27,000 units of cars per year and re-emphasized that the local production of vehicles in Nigeria would further make cars affordable to teeming Nigerians.

Osinbajo added that Kia Nigeria has demonstrated that one of the sustainable ways for inclusion and economic transformation is an industrialized economy that’s perfectly poised for employment creation.

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GMD/CEO, Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe at the conference said the localization of car production amongst other manufacturing plants in Nigeria will help foster the economic development of the country and serve as a springboard for her GDP growth.

Emphasizing job creation and the end-to-end value chain car assembling brings to the fore the economic growth of Nigeria, Wigwe said Kia Nigeria like every other manufacturing company will bolster the nation’s economic recovery.

Wigwe added that the production of cars in Nigeria will further drive the value down the chain of production with more car component manufacturers joining in on the production of cars which will further boost the economy and create more jobs for the people.

Jacky Hathiramani, Managing Director/ CEO of Kia Nigeria remarked that the company is committed to contributing immensely to the development of the nation through the multi-billion investment in local car production.

He further stated that “we have taken our growth commitment to a greater height in Nigeria and repositioned our brand by supporting the Nigeria dream.” He stressed that the local production of Kia cars will continue to foster the diversification of the economy with a value-driven supply chain and scalable backward integration for the economy.

Jacky further stated that “the automobile industry across the globe has always played a major role in strengthening the global economy by contributing immensely to the growth of the GDP and the creation of employment to teeming youths. At Kia, we’re committed to helping the economy recover after the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic”. He thanked Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for gracing the occasion and particularly taking a tour of the exhibition stands to interact with the brands at the conference.

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In the same light, he applauded the laudable efforts of the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and the conference’s chairman, Mr. Herbert Wigwe for their doggedness in galvanizing all stakeholders towards the nation’s economic recovery and transformation.