Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has observed that the failure of the Federal government to protect Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Ltd, PAN, led to the company’s dwindling fortunes.
“If the Federal government had protected it, we would by now be competing like India who are making their culture and technology go together”, the governor maintained.
He made the assertion while receiving the Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Ibrahim Boyi who visited him in his office, pointing out that India indigenized technology and took advantage of their huge population to make socio-economic headway.
According to him, Nigeria should have closed its doors to what he termed as “other brands” and concentrated on locally produced products like Peugeot cars, expressing optimism that with its sound economic policies, the Buhari administration would see to the revitalization of local manufacturing plants across the country.
He expressed happiness that the new management of the company is trying its best to restore its productive capacity, assuring that the government of Kano state would patronize its products within limits of the available resources.
Governor Ganduje expressed willingness to partner with PAN Ltd to train youths to acquire industrial skills and asked its management to submit a trending blueprint for government’s consideration.
In his remarks, Managing Director of PAN, Alhaji Ibrahim Boyi stated that the company has keyed into the automotive policy of the Federal government and has commenced assembly operations, reorganization of dealership and introduced new products, among other things, to sustain its competitiveness.
He also told the governor that the company has a fully equipped training center and urged the government to collaborate with it for the training of youths from Kano on skills acquisition.
