Dangote, Others Acquire Peugeot Plant

Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna state on Friday said that the state government, Bank of Industry, business tycoon Aliko Dangote and some states will acquire the Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Ltd (PAN).

El-Rufa’i who said this during the state’s special day at the ongoing 37th Kaduna International Trade Fair, named the other states as Katsina, Kebbi and Jigawa.

He said a proposal to acquire the majority shares of the company had already been submitted to Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).

According to him, the step is part of efforts to revive ailing industries in the state to provide huge employment opportunities to the teeming unemployed youths in the region and Kaduna State in particular.

He said that PAN, a critical partner in Kaduna State industrial history, had gone down from assembling 90,000 cars per annum to merely 200 a year.

“Our hope is that when we acquire the majority share of the company, we will restructure it to operate to full capacity of assembling between 90,000 and 100,000 cars yearly.

“We have the support of PAN as well as the government of France in this drive.

“We are determined to bring back all industries related to Peugeot established in Kaduna as part of plans to ensure that every youth in Kaduna State has something doing,” he said.

The governor added that his administration had created more than 120,000 jobs in nine months, “but it is not enough; we have to work harder considering the number of unemployed youths in the state”.]