Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), Nigeria’s indigenous vehicle manufacturing company, has approached the Nigerian government for a loan as it prepares to start production of ventilators and other medical equipment to support the country’s poor public health infrastructure.
The company revealed that they hope to use the N4 billion to fast-track production of ventilators and protective gears that may prove critical in Nigeria’s battle against Coronavirus.
While speaking with newsmen on Wednesday, Obinna Chukwuma, an executive director at Innoson, said:
“We plan to add the loan to our existing financial and technical resources to produce a good number of ventilators within a short period of time.
“The time is running out and our available resources cannot be sufficient for what the country would require in critical medical equipment.”
To secure the facility quickly, Innoson has approached the Central Bank of Nigeria, through the presidential task force on coronavirus, and a private bank, officials said.
Also speaking to newsmen, Cornel Osigwe, Innoson’s chief spokesperson said, “We made it a two-way approach with the hope that either would work out quickly for us to start producing these life-saving equipment for the Nigerian population.”
Innoson has built cars locally in Nigeria for more than a decade. The indigenous manufacturer has its sprawling production line in Nnewi, a major trading community in Nigeria’s southeast.
To produce ventilators, an automated equipment that pumps air in and out of the lungs of patients unable to breathe on their own, the company would have to install a separate production line or retrofit its existing factory to manufacture medical equipment rather than cars and trucks.
Chukwuma added: “It is very complex engineering, but if we are able to get the loan we have been pursuing, we can roll out production within 90 days.
“Then we can start supplying hundreds of ventilators to medical facilities where they might be needed across the country.”
Isaac Okorafor, chief spokesperson for the CBN, and health minister Osagie Enihare, did not respond to requests for comments.
Innoson’s decision to secure a loan from either the government or one of its bankers came more than a week after the company told reporters it was ready to produce ventilators and other medical equipment.
Although some government officials at federal and state levels reached out to the company to explore potential areas of partnership, no concrete agreement had yet been reached.
