Again Nigeria Miss Out As Hyundai, Kia Set Up An Assembly Plants In Ghana

The automobile giants will join Toyota-Suzuki, Nissan, Kantanka, Volkswagen, and Sinotruck who already have plants in Ghana.

Few weeks after Twitter announced its plans to open its first African office in Ghana, Hyundai and Kia have also concluded plans to set up an assembly plants in Ghana by 2022. The automobile giants will join Toyota-Suzuki, Nissan, Kantanka, Volkswagen, and Sinotruck who already have plants.

Ghana’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen announced this on Twitter.

“Pleased to announce that Hyundai & KIA are set to establish assembly plants in Ghana by the end of 2022 to join Toyota-Suzuki, Nissan, Kantanka, Volkswagen & Sinotruck. The Ghana Auto Development program = 3,600 assemblies & 6,600 manufacturing parts jobs in Ghana.

“The local assembly of vehicles, 3,600 direct and indirect jobs would be created in Ghana, and the addition of components and parts manufacturing will also add about 6,600 direct and indirect jobs.”

Why this matters

More foreign companies are shunning Nigeria in favour of Ghana. Recently, Nairametrics reported that Amazon is set to situate its African Headquarters in South Africa, a multi-billion dollar investment that is projected to create over 20,000 jobs both directly and indirectly.

Following its move to Ghana, Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey cited a number of human rights-related reasons for the choice of Ghana over Nigeria. Added to this are rising insecurity, stifling government regulations and the gapping infrastructural deficit bedevilling Nigeria. Consequently, our nation is steadily losing opportunities to attract foreign companies that could be very instrumental in bridging its unemployment gap which is currently over 30%.