Part of the major projects executed by the outgoing Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration in Lagos State, was the commissioning of 820 Mass transit Buses currently parked at the new Oshodi Transport Interchange.
However, it was not clear if the procurement process considered the Executive Order 5 of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration which encourages local content and further provides that before any massive procurement is to be carried out by any entity whether private and mainly public, local manufacturers must be considered first.
Otherwise, there seems to be no reason whatsoever that will encourage Lagos State Government to procure the whooping 820 buses from China and in the process, boost capital flight in an economy that is crying for industrialization.
Besides, if the buses were bought from Innoson vehicles Manufacturing (IVM), Nnewi, a lot of multiplier effects would have been recorded including easy availability of spare parts, no import duties, capacity expansion for IVM which will power more job creation.
Checks at Innoson Group revealed that it has been producing such large body vehicles to the extent, the Malian government few years ago came and procured about 400 pieces from the Nnewi plant.
Now, analysts say there are clear chances that the buses may soon varnish within few years of use due to unavailability of spare parts just like the thousands of Mass Transit Buses procured by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) some years ago.
IVM has show room in Lagos and pays a sizeable percentage taxes to the Lagos State Government and therefore should have been considered first before flying hard earned tax payers’ money to China.
Good enough, only recently, the Federal Government procured about 77 Pick-Up Vans for the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) from IVM and there are hopes that the new trend will continue while Lagos State Government is expected to have a rethink in further procurement of related vehicles that are manufactured locally.
