Don’t let auto policy fail, AUTOBATE president tells FG

In this interview with JOY EKEKE, the Deputy National President of Automobile, Boatyards, Transport, Equipment and Allied Senior Staff Association (AUTOBATE), and also an engineer at the network service department of TATA Africa service, Comrade (Engr.) Ogunyemi Joseph, speaks about the importance of implementing the national automotive policy to industrialise Nigeria amidst challenges of infrastructure deficit.

What is your evaluation of the automobile policy?

The federal government has actually put up a very brilliant policy as regards automobiles especially the one that borders on those that are bringing so many parts into this country, actually if you are to partner with the federal government in bringing in automobiles you must be able to show a sense of belonging, making sure that you establish your mechanic plant in the country and there and then be able to make use of some local content and manufactures.

The policy as was formulated by the federal government was good but the implementation is what we are looking at because in this country if any policy is formulated and it’s not followed strictly they are a lot of people that seize the opportunity of not having proper control of it by abusing it, the fact is the agencies that is supposed to work with the federal government to make the policy work better need to be at alert in their responsibility, otherwise people will just be hiding in the pretence of saying they want to bring their plants into this country and be sneaking out and sneaking in those parts that this policy ought to have stopped from bringing in to this country.

I’m talking of control, I’m talking of proper monitoring; I’m talking of agencies like the SON which need to fasten their seat belts and make sure that what is brought in is up to standard and also Customs need to be alive to their responsibilities otherwise the policy will be rubbished and we will go back to square one.

What impact is expected of this policy?

The aim and objective is to develop our country technologically because by the time federal government says if you want to bring in your vehicle you must have a plant it will serve as a means of employment to our teeming graduate, because if you take a look at our universities you will see that they have mechanical engineering and they are producing about 200 graduates from each university so this will serve as a means of employment to graduates and it will equally regenerate our economy because automobile is supposed to be an important sector in our economy if all this things can be properly actualized.

What are the major issues or challenges affecting automobile sector?

I have said initially that Nigeria is regarded as a dumping ground, the challenges we are having now is to mop up the market and send away all those that import junks into this country and discourage them from coming again, because if you go to the market you will see three to four categories of spare parts faked by the Chinese, the original part is supposed to come from United Kingdom or India but by the time you go to the market they will ask you if you want the fake or the original, the genuine maybe N2000 while the fake maybe N1000, so by the time you fix all these fake parts into your vehicle it becomes a burden to you.

Though it’s not going to be easy to get it perfectly right, it also falls on AUTOBATE to put their resources together by making press statements and organising seminars were these things will be addressed so that attitudes can be changed.

What is your take on casualisation in the labour sector?

Casualisation is slavery and the International Labour Organization, ILO, has said that every organization in a country that can employ up to 50 staffs should be unionized and that every worker must belong to one union or the other. Casualisation is illegal and it’s another means of enslaving Nigerians and we in AUTOBATE have been putting up a lot of effort, from now on we are going to combine our effort with Trade Union Congress and all other affiliates of TUC under the umbrella of labour unions to stop and discourage casualisation.

What can you say about the recent layoffs in the public service domain?

It is quite unfortunate that our democracy is becoming something else. Nigerians have opted for democracy but we are not getting the dividend of democracy, this is because those at the helms of affairs are self-centred politicians, if you see any governor complaining that he cannot pay the national minimum wage such a governor should be investigated thoroughly. The major factor of production is labour, so if a state is willing to move forward, those at the helms of affairs should manage the human resources very well, inability of the government to manage these human resources is what makes them to say they want to sack or retrench their workers.

They are a lot of ways a state government can generate money, they could use revenue collection or tax but because in Nigeria people expect so much from the government and they are not ready to pay tax if you go to the developed countries they pay for what they are using. It is only in Africa that governments are dubious and you will see someone embezzling funds and a lawyer is still backing him up.

What can you say about the issue of unemployment rate in Nigeria?

The unemployment rate in Nigeria is to alarming, thousands and millions of graduates are out there without jobs and you see a lot of them turning to be armed robbers and all of that and causing problems due to the fact that they are not employed; so it falls on the new serious government to channel our money to what we can see as practical development because if you see the 2.1 billion dollars that was embezzled through the office of the national security advisers, if the government decides to build schools, hospitals and industries with the money in the 36 states of the federation, they can.

The only solution is having responsible leaders and government that is responsible the people and by the time all these loopholes are blocked then they can divert the resources of this country to a practical way of establishing something that will elevate the problem. A responsible government is the only solution and the duty of the government is to make sure that those that are trained in the tertiary institutions are given jobs, because if you go to some foreign countries they train people based on what their economies need.

What are the expectations from government in line with the vision of the union?

We want government to partner the unions whenever the government is willing to formulate policies that will have bearing on the workers; they should take the contributions from the officers of the unions and we should discusses at a roundtable and at same time unions by now should participate fully in this administration. Participation in the sense that the Minister of labour should open his door and allow people to come in especially the unionists to come and render one advice or the other in the mission of the sector they belong to.

Currently I think the Minister of Labour should work hand in hand with the unionists and let’s see how we can solve the problems of labour in the country.