DESPITE the report of the Senate ad hoc committee, which probed the sale of companies, both management and staff of Volkswagen Nigeria Limited seem to remain resolute in their commitment to churn out brand new vehicles through some new production lines that are being put in place.But to the outsiders, and the National Assembly, there is still a query hovering around the method of concessioning the automobile firm by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE).A visit to the company last week showed some activities are going on there.An auto engineer with VON, Ade Ojo told The Guardian that life had gradually returned to the multinational firm, which was left to die by actions and inactions of both government and other stakeholders.He said, 'as one of the few old staff that have found themselves back to the system, there are a lot of things that have come in to show us that the old days may be back, if politics is removed to return the company back to life. I was one of the last batches of auto engineers that assembled the last Passat Car in 1981, before the situation went awry.'Some of us, who have indicated zeal to render any help in seeing the new dream of revitalising VON come true can do so, not necessarily because we are unemployed, no, but have lived with the nostalgia that a company whose counterparts in other developing countries, outside Nigeria, have gone ahead to manufacture vehicles in line with the today's technology. We don't want VON to die just like that. You may not believe it, the factory lines are still good; the testing grounds for vehicles are still comparable with what is found in Brazil and Taiwan, which had similar challenges with Nigeria.'Nigeria ought to have been filled with brand new vehicles, just as you have in other countries which started automobile assembly plants at the same time with Nigeria. But we can still reverse the trend if policy makers so desire.'We are not interested in who has emerged the concessionaire of the firm, but it must be stated that before the coming on board of the present managers of the company, everything had collapsed such that here was being used to produce bottled water and other items unconnected with a multi-million rated firm. I was one of first few who travelled to Brazil at the time to understudy the revolution that has seen them supply the world with vehicles. I discovered to my chagrin that Nigeria has so many advantages, including, cheaper labour, endowed natural resources, like steel, petroleum and other solid minerals, most of which are imported by Indonesia, China and Brazil; they are still flooding our markets with their products.'A senior management staff confirmed that work had advanced in seeing to it that VON returns to its days of glory.He said: 'There is even no particular firm, or interest group, that could be said to have sole ownership of VON as at today. Rather, what is known is that the Federal Government has some percentage of ownership, Lagos government has, while Barbedos Ventures Nigeria Ltd (BVNL) has some shares, with the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) reserving at least five per cent of the equity share for the workers. So there is a collaborative effort towards seeing that things come back to what they used to be here and we are proud that some products, in terms of vehicle have been re-launched to the satisfaction of all. The workforce is gradually beaming up, though I don't know exactly the size of staff as at today, the local workforce is bigger than the expatriate.'Going by claims and counter claims by both government officials, the lawmakers and the core investors, the public has been confused as to the real situation of things in the auto factory.The fact is yet to be ascertained as to the best way to go about putting the company to its proper use.While the Senate Committee insists that greater part of the company premises had been converted to a bonded terminal warehouse for fertilizer, vegetable oil, rice Honda and Hyundai cars, instead of being used for the main purpose for which the firm was established, mainly to roll out brand new Volkswagen products, The Guardian saw one of the vehicles said to have been assembled by VON.It was found out that while the chairman of BVNL, Alhaji Kassim Bukar Shettima, has not raised any issue with anybody concerning the running of the firm, he was even quoted as saying that the terms of agreement over the privatisation in 2010 had been kept by all concerned.A source very close to him said: 'The BVNL is representing the Federal Government with a share capital of 35 per cent; the Vaswanis, through their company Barbedos Virgin Island has 40 per cent; BHF of Germany has 11 per cent; Mandillas and Century Motors purchased five per cent each, while the Lagos State government purchased the remaining four per cent. The management has been working towards accommodating all the interest groups in ensuring that the company comes back to full shape.'It was not possible to ascertain whether the fleet of new buses at the various locations in the expansive premises of VON were actually assembled at the company's factories.The buses, blue in colour had the name 'Stallion' written on each of them. But some junior workers claimed they are the first group of workers to test run the new assembly plants being mounted. But there is no official statement confirming this.An official said the allegation of part of the premises being leased out to other interest groups outside the core automobile business is not true. He told The Guardian that it is not fair to make such allegation based on what is seen from the distance. 'It took wisdom to retrieve the place from marauders, who held court in the place as a result of no work. So, you don't just ask those, who manned the security of the machines and other assets of the company to leave instantly. That would amount to pay good with bad. I'm not the management spokesman, but all us have found out that some people took the initiative to keep VON alive.'What the managers of VON may do to dispel rumour is to apply some measure of transparency to their operations. Right now, everything seems shrouded in secrecy.
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