Access Bank boss commends Kia at CIBN 14th Bankers’ Conference

Vice president Yemi Osinbajo touring the exhibition booth at the Abuja Center of the 14th Annual Banking & Finance Conference, accompanied by Godwin Emiefele, CBN governor and Herbert Wigwe, chief executive officer, Access Bank plc

…thumbs up for it on Nigeria’s industrialization

Chairman, consultative committee of the CIBN 14th Annual Banking & Finance Conference and who is also the group managing director and chief executive of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe has commended Kia Nigeria for the role it is playing in the drive towards economic diversification and Nigeria’s industrialization through the local assembly of Kia cars in Nigeria, highlighted the significant role

While highlighting the significant role of the auto local assembler during an exhibition tour at the just concluded CIBN conference with the vice president Yemi Osinbajo, Wigwe said the localization of car production amongst other manufacturing plants in Nigeria will help foster the economic development of the country and serve as a springboard for her GDP growth.

Emphasizing job creation and the end-to-end value chain car assembling brings to the fore in the economic growth of Nigeria, Kia like every other manufacturing company will bolster the nation’s economic recovery, he stated.

Keying into this year’s conference theme of ‘Economic Recovery, Inclusion And Transformation: The Role Of Banking & Finance’, Kia Nigeria joined banks and other financial institutions in the country to demonstrate that one of the sustainable ways for inclusion and economic transformation is an industrialized economy that is perfectly poised for employment creation. This has over the years been the core of Kia business operations in Nigeria through capacity development, local manufacturing, and a backward integrated economy.

Vice president Osinbajo was impressed to know that Kia has the capacity to produce 27,000 units of cars per year and reemphasized that the local production of vehicles will further make cars affordable to teeming Nigerians. Wigwe added that local auto assembly of vehicles will further drive the value down the chain of production with more car component manufacturers joining in on the production of cars which will further boost the economy and create more jobs for the people.

Jacky Hathiramani, managing director and chief executive of Kia Nigeria remarked that, the company is committed to contributing immensely to the development of the nation through the multi-billion investment in local car production.

He further stated that “we have taken our growth commitment to a greater height and repositioned our brand by supporting the Nigeria dream” adding that that the local production of Kia cars will continue to foster the diversification of the economy with a value-driven supply chain and scalable backward integration for the economy.

According to him, “the automobile industry across the globe has always played a major role in strengthening the global economy by contributing immensely to the growth of the GDP and the creation of employment to teeming youths. At Kia, we’re committed to helping the economy recover after the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

He thanked vice president Yemi Osinbajo for gracing the occasion and particularly taking a tour of the exhibition stands to interact with the brands at the conference, and also applauded the laudable efforts of the governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, and the conference’s chairman, Herbert Wigwe for their doggedness in galvanizing all stakeholders towards the nation’s economic recovery and transformation.

TOCHUKWU MICHAEL