By Ayodele Johnson

Next was the photo ops after launching a GAC Car Assembling Plant in Lagos. The state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu was at the centre of it, expectedly. It was Tuesday, 24 October, the day he has tagged as a “momentous occasion” because he had just brewed the hack looking “towards greater industrialisation, more jobs, and technical training” for Lagosians.

There was a build-up prior to now. It started approaching the end of March 2022, when precisely 1,000 GAC MOTOR vehicles were delivered to the Lagos State Government so that it could commence the pilot of the newly introduced ride-hailing taxi scheme called Lagos Ride (LagRide).

In this initiative lies the thirst to insert missing pieces that are needed to install a convenient transport utility for the people. It had to be affordable and attractive, which is what LagRide provides.

A thousand GAC vehicles had to be shipped from Qingdao, China, in October 2021 to be in Lagos four months after sailing began. The start of a vehicle assembling plant in the megacity 19 months after the first batch of deliveries is certainly a step up that Mr Sanwo-Olu resounded in a tweet posted this past Tuesday via the X platform.

“This partnership, born in the challenging days of the pandemic, has flourished, not only giving birth to the GAC Motor Nigeria CKD factory but also aiding the growth and expansion of our LAGRIDE project. These initiatives signify our commitment to progress, innovation, and the betterment of Lagos State.

“The opening of this Vehicle Assembly Plant is a glowing emblem of our State’s openness to investments that foster job creation, skill development, wealth creation, and entrepreneurial opportunities.

“The ripple effect of this investment extends far beyond the automotive sector. It has ushered in a new dawn of employment, providing our industrious youths with well-deserved jobs, thereby significantly reducing unemployment in Lagos.”

Today, we marked a momentous occasion at the completion ceremony of the GAC Car Assembly Plant in Lagos.

The partnership between Lagos State and CIG Motors represents a pivotal step towards greater industrialization, more jobs, and technical training for our people.

This… pic.twitter.com/HTFqA9VHFp

— Babajide Sanwo-Olu (@jidesanwoolu) October 24, 2023

ALSO READ: 30 minutes riding the Lagos Blue Line rail from Marina

How the effect of COVID-19 reflected on the people was the steep price of commodities and transportation. So what that meant since around mid-2019 was exceptionally costly taxi fares by the regular cab services like Uber and Bolt, which almost seemed devilish.

Never did the young professionals who make up the highest patronage need to pay so much and the situation only grew worse as there has been the Russo-Ukrainian War that drove up petrol prices.

While having a GAC vehicle assembling plant in Lagos won’t drive down costly fares driven by crude oil prices, it sure would make travelling much safer and more convenient. Not all the assembled sedans and SUVs have to line up to be LagRide-marked, Lagosians who do not need their vehicles to be used for transportation business can own a couple for family outings, grocery shopping and getting to work.

Although the city officials are coming up with other viable means – the multimodal transportation system – to move people around, such as the Lagos Blue Line Rail train service, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the ferry rides, it is a good win for getting more Lagosians riding in brand new automobiles, instead of second-hand-used selections imported into the country. This will widen the path to environmental sustainability and it would also lessen the harmful effect of carbon emissions caused by old cars shuffling down Lagos highways.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.