Auto Dealers Commit to Transforming Automobile Trading in Nigeria

Gilbert Ekugbe

Auto Dealers Association of Nigeria (ADAN), has announced plans to transform automobile trading in Nigeria.

The association stated this at its inaugural awards and end of the year stock taking tagged, “The Legal Problems Inherent in Operating in an Informal Trade Sector; Auto Trade,” in Lagos.

ADAN explained that as an association, it sincerely seeks to bring excellence into the business of automobile trading in the country and would continue to be that crucial pillar of support to all of its members in all circumstances and situations.

The Chairman, Organising Committee, of the Inaugural awards ceremony, Kennedy Ukagba, represented by the Chairman Board of Trustees (BOT), the Professional Platform of Auto Dealers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Amobi Moghalu, said the commitment is coming on the heels of the automobile industry’s 30 per cent contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria.

In his words, “That informality bedeviling the automobile industry ought to be transformed, such that the industry is elevated into a formal, recognized sector of the economy. An industry that contributes at least 30% of the Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria is here described as an informal sector of the economy. If that description does not worry you, it worries me.”

“We aim to become a bulwark for all our members against the vagaries of state agencies and/or any form of intimidation or discrimination from any source whatsoever. We also seek to ensure that our members abide by certain ethics in conducting their business,” he said.

He said the event is epochal in the annals of automobile business in Nigeria, stating that a lot of thought was put into fashioning an association that can become a benchmark, not only in the automobile industry, but also as an instrument of change within Nigeria.

He stated that the association has the capacity to write and demand explanation from both federal and state governments and its agencies about policies that are inimical to the progress of its businesses.

“The powers conferred upon associations by their registration at the Corporate Affairs Commission are such that a determined trade association can influence policies regarding the specific industry within which it operates. Many associations have done so in the past and continue to do so even up to this present time. That is why government agencies and their parastatals, law enforcement agencies and their operatives and other bodies of authority like civil and traditional institutions pay attention once a registered trade association is presented before them,” he stressed.

He noted that within an association, there is no clear-cut hierarchy except for those instruments of administration like the executive and the board of trustees to which any member can aspire.