Aggrieved Nigerians have started raising objections on why Toyota Corporation, manufactures of the most used vehicle brand in Nigeria is yet to consider Nigeria for either assembly plant or full scale manufacturing complex.
Recall that earlier this year, upon the fact that Nigeria remains it highest market, Toyota jumped over to Ghana with other car giants to invest in car assembly with the target of importing to Nigeria relying on ECOWAS free trade treaty to the demerits of Nigeria’s industrialization drive.
Only recently, Toyota in Ghana embarked on a deep pocket collaboration with the University of Ghana for the construction of a multibillion dollar Toyota Academy to grow car manufacturing technology in Ghana upon Nigeria remains its African major market.
Mr. Takuya Kajiura, Managing Director of Toyota Ghana in an interview agreed that Ghana had over the years presented salutary investment environment.
Though efforts to find out from the chairman, Toyota Nigeria Limited (TNL), Chief Michael Ade-Ojo, the leading sales franchisee in Nigeria failed at the recent awards and celebration of key customers in Lagos, Nigerians are of the view that time has come for the automobile to think Nigeria considering the volume of patronage over the years and invest in Nigeria.
Analysts say Toyota had remained the leading auto firm in Nigeria in terms of new vehicle sale and after-sale service as a result of the continued patronage of its products and services by Nigeria shortly after the production complications that trailed both Peugeot and Volkswagen during the 1990.
However, during the Toyota Award Nite, TNL promised to continue to celebrate those customers and other stakeholders including journalists that have kept the auto firm in business despite the harsh economic situation in the country.
At the awards, while First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) was announced as winner of its Special Evergreen Customer of the Year award, the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Petroleum Resources and MTN Nigeria were declared the first, second and third prize winners, respectively in the customers of the year award category.
Ade-Ojo, who explained the reasons for the honours, averred that “Evergreen is given to the best customer who emerged as the top customer for past five years cumulatively and the most loyal and consistent in the patronage of Toyota products in the past 10 years.”
FBN, which had won similar award in 2018, was rewarded with the latest model of new Toyota Yaris.
