PAN Invests N5bn To Boost Local Production Of Peugeot 307

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola,
having a feel of one of the air-conditioned Nissan
Sunny cars, supplied by Sun Motors to Lagos Taxi
and Cab Operators Association, at their unveiling
ceremony held recently in Lagos.Nigeria’s indigenous automobile company, Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited (PAN), has invested another N5 billion into the company to boost the local production of the new Peugeot 307.

The Peugeot 307 sedan, which is PAN’s new sensation replacing its Peugeot 406 model line, is to be locally produced in Nigeria.

Disclosing this is the Managing Director, Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited (PAN), Dr. Haroun Ibrahim Aliyu, during the recent visit of the members of the House of Represntatives’ Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation to the Kaduna office of PAN.

Receiving the committee led by its chairman, Honourable Ahmed Njidda Gella, Aliyu also disclosed that at present, with 950-member work force, PAN had the capacity to produce an average of 24 cars per day, summing up to 70,000 cars per annum.

As part of its oversight functions, Gella said it paid a visit to the Kaduna headquarters office of PAN, Nigeria’s automibile giant, to see the state of things.

He told the management team of PAN to only deal with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in matters relating to its transactions as the only recognised government representative on its board.

He frowned on attempts being made by some government agencies to pry into the affairs of PAN, saying it was the statutory responsibility of the BPE to do so.

“The Federal Government has 10 per cent equity in the company which the BPE holds in trust. Henceforth, drawing the attention of BPE to any correspondence from any of the agencies purporting to be government’s representative on the board would no longer be tolerated,” Gella said.

For checks and balances, Gella called on the BPE to convene a meeting of relevant stakeholders to address all burning issues.

Advocacy For Road Safety (2)

Road safety is a subject of intense public concern. It is an issue of public health. It is a matter for the government and the people. Road accident is a public enemy number one. In Nigeria, very many people continue to be victims and casualties of road traffic accidents (RTA), because only a few understand the first principles of road safety. Of course, human behavioural errors, both in traffic and off-road, are the primary causes of RTA in the country. The situation is further aggravated by a deficiency in traffic legislation and a lack of strict enforcement. For all these reasons, a countrywide advocacy, therefore, becomes and remains the single most crucial factor in the course of road safety, especially in the current climate of public opinion.
Let me elucidate that widespread road safety advocacy, throughout the country, has unlimited capabilities to reduce the present unacceptably high injury and death rates from RTA to a tolerable degree. I suppose we need to develop, immediately, what I call “road safety advocacy pyramid”, which will encompass all levels of the society. The advocacy of this nature must involve multilateral collaboration on the broad spectrum of road safety. Generally speaking, road safety advocacy would strategically serve a dual purpose. On one hand, it would seek to influence the government and its agencies for positive actions by ensuring continued improvement and implementation of road safety policy, and on the other, it would try to inculcate the road-using public with road sense by moulding their opinion.

Interestingly, one of the cardinal functions of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) is cooperating with agencies and groups engaged in road safety activities. But in practice, the FRSC has done nothing encouragingly substantial to integrate non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the media as partners in road safety. Collaboration between the FRSC and relevant NGOs is imperative for effective road safety delivery. From the pyramidal standpoint, the NGOs are to work in close collaboration with the media to mobilise actions and resources for road safety. NGOs have the ability to mobilise community action, private sector and international aid agencies against the scourge of road accidents. Of course, I am well aware that there are very few road safety advocacy NGOs in Nigeria at present. But with singleness of purpose, these few ones would give a fillip to the momentum around road safety and, at the same time, create a phenomenal domino effect.

It may interest you to know that it was a collaborative effort of some international NGOs, World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations that led to the establishment of “World Day of Remembrance” for road accident victims which is being observed on third Sunday in November each year. Curiously enough, Nigeria is one of the countries that observe this day. This is just one of the strategic roles NGOs can play in road safety advocacy. The benefit of road safety advocacy cannot be overemphasised.