Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), a Nigerian automobile company, is insisting that the Imo State Government has a N2.5 billion debt with the company for the purchase of various IVM vehicles and parts.
This is coming against the backdrop of a press statement said to have been issued by Declan Emelumba, Commissioner for information and Strategy, on behalf of the Imo State Government that discredited Innoson’s earlier claim of the state government’s indebtedness.
“The said statement was unscrupulously written to water down the facts and substance stated in our earlier statement,” Cornel Osigwe, head, Corporate Communications and Affairs, IVM Innoson Group, said in a statement.
Stressing the company does not want to “join words with Imo State Government”, Osigwe reiterated “the matter is now before the courts and we have always believed in the integrity of the judiciary to do the right thing when facts are stated.”
Offering clarifications on the transaction, Osigwe said, in March 2020, the Imo State Government, following the assumption of office by Hope Uzodinma, on assumption of office as the State’s governor, procured and paid for its first set of Innoson Vehicles.
After one year, specifically in April 2021, the Imo State Government requested the supply of another set of vehicles, with an understanding the State Government will pay for the vehicles after deliveries to them, just as was the case with the first transaction, a request IVM granted, according to the statement.
“To the best of our knowledge, Innoson Vehicles has always maintained and serviced the vehicles supplied to the Imo State Government up to the stage the company decided to disengage its maintenance and servicing as a result of non-payment of servicing parts used which have risen to above 7M naira. This particular debt among others is what Innoson Vehicles has detailed to recover from the law court. Innoson Vehicles is not a charitable organization but a business concern that needs money to stay in business,” the statement said.
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The press release also stated that the claim on servicing of debt in all its entirety is false. “Since the vehicles were delivered in April 2021, the State Government hasn’t paid one naira. The company has utilized every known means to make the state pay or negotiate a payment plan that will clear the debt but all to no avail,” it said.
The claim that Innoson Vehicles agreed with the Imo State Government to set up a Service Centre in the State, was also dismissed as inaccurate. The statement said Innoson Vehicles has various vehicle servicing partners in Imo State where Innoson Vehicles are maintained and serviced.
Osigwe stated that in as much as Innoson Vehicles doesn’t delight in going to court with its customers over matters of this nature, in this case, seeking legal redress has become the last option available to the company.
“There are several receipts of letters and messages sent to the State Government and the Governor appealing to his conscience that the nonpayment of this debt or its servicing will lead to the shutdown of operations of Innoson Vehicles, not for once did we get any response of hope from the Governor,” Osigwe said.
Innoson Vehicles in the statement, urged the Imo State Government to pay its debt with the accruing interest so that the case will be withdrawn from court.
