Weeds, rodents, take over premises of Steyr Meeting plant in Bauchi

Weeds and rodents have taken over the premises of Steyr (Nigeria) Ltd, Bauchi, one of the four automobile assembly plants founded in the country about 40 years ago.

A Nigerian News Agency (NAN) correspondent who visited the company’s premises also notes that the road to the factory is now being used for drying agricultural produce.

Ibrahim Buba, a member of the company’s marketing department, told NAN that the factory that initially assembled trucks, tractors and buses was long gone.

Buba said the company’s problems began after it was privatized by the federal government, which resulted in the transfer of ownership to private individuals.

According to him, the staff union and factory management are on trial for property and liability, including claims of staff, among others.

Another company employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NAN that the company stopped production in 2007.

The source told NAN that he had been an employee since 1980 and revealed with nostalgia that Steyr Motors assembled 5,000 tractors, 2,000 trucks and 2,000 buses a year for the Nigerian market during the rosy years.

The source said the government withdrew its stake in the company during its military service and later sold it to people who were unable to sustain production.

He stated that the company had more than 2,000 employees as of 2007 and that they have now been paid for more than six years.

“Nobody released us and nobody saved us. We have spent over six years with no pay; In fact, we had to resort to litigation three years ago. We took them to court, ”he said.

Some of the company’s employees, who also didn’t want to be mentioned, said the company could still be revitalized if the government took over the plant and invited capable expatriates to manage it.

NAN’s efforts to get comments from prominent private company stakeholders failed because those in Bauchi refused to comment.

Several visits by NAN to the office of the Bauchi State Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Ms. Maryam Begel, yielded no results as she was allegedly on official business somewhere.

A ministry official told NAN that the commissioner was the only person empowered to speak on political and government-related matters unless she authorized someone else to speak on her behalf.

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