The Director-General of National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Jelani Aliyu, said the Federal Government will collaborate with Global Automotive OEMs including BMW, Ford, VW, Nissan and others to achieve its dream of local automobile manufacturing.
Mr. Aliyu, who led the Federal Government’s delegation to South Africa, met with a coalition of the world’s major Automotive OEMs and Original Equipment Manufacturers.
According to Aliyu, the meeting with representatives of the companies centered on NADDC’s committment and strategy on supporting these multi-national companies to come into Nigeria and manufacture their state-of-the art vehicles as per world standards.
He siad, “this would provide direct and indirect employment and exponential economic multiplier effects.
“NADDC’s objective for the two companies is to support them in exponentially increasing their production capacity, and also in providing more of their model range offerings at various price points, from low cost entry levels to premium configurations”, he added.
Aliyu, who observed that Ford produces the Ranger at their plant in Ikeja, Lagos, a mid-size pick-up with high capabilites and functionality, said that
there are three global mega-trends in the automotive industry: the electrification of vehicles, vehicle autonomy, and ride sharing.
“The NADDC discussions with the automotive manufacturers touched on these three trends, especially the electrification of vehicles.
“With counties such as the United Kingdom and France setting out targets to phase out the sale of petrol and diesel powered vehicles, Nigeria must not be left behind, and NADDC is strategizing the development of an Electric Vehicles Policy to support the adoption of that technology in the country”, he noted.
According to him, although challenges exist in general power availability in the country, three important enabling factors must be acknowledged: 1) the Nigerian Federal Government has now allowed the establishment of private sector driven modular power generation, 2) Nigeria is blessed with high solar insolation that must be harnessed, and 3) NADDC is now committed to collaborating with developers of automotive relavant sustainable energy solutions from both within Nigeria and without.
The DG said NADDC’s commitment is to work with all credible and progressive stakeholders in enabling the Nigerian automotive sector leapfrog into a comprehensive advanced ecosystem populated with sustainable, energy efficient and inherently safe vehicles and transportation solutions.
The delegation also visited an Automotive industrial park in Rosslyn, South Africa, in lieu of the proposed Automotive Industrial Park located at Nnewi. Meanwhile, NADDC is also proposing two other parks, one in Kaduna and the other in Oshogbo”, he said.
