As President Bola Tinubu marks one year in office, the impact of his leadership is evident, especially in the country’s automotive industry.
Joseph Osanipin, the Director-General, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
According to Osanipin, the NADDC has been instrumental in driving forward the President’s vision of a Renewed Hope Agenda.
The director-general said the president’s directives have significantly boosted efforts to promote made-in-Nigeria vehicles and strengthened the automotive sector.
NAN reports that Tinubu directed Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to use Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles made in Nigeria.
According to the president, any submission contrary to this will be rejected. This unambiguous stance has provided the necessary impetus for compliance and simplified NADDC’s enforcement efforts.
“So we are working with necessary stakeholders and agencies to pursue that and with this directive from the president, it made our job easier.
“And I am sure every stakeholder in the industry is very happy with that because they know we need to invest more in CNG vehicles.
“Most of the assemblers we have already have the kit, they train themselves, and they have been doing manpower training to equip the staff on how to do the conversion.
“And some of the assemblers are already doing direct CNG so that there will be no need for conversion, it is coming out as CNG,” Osanipin said.
The director-general said a significant part of Tinubu’s vision was the development of the local spare parts sector.
Osanipin said parts development remained NADDC’s major achievement. While Nigeria may not be able to produce all automotive parts, the emphasis was on leveraging local capabilities.
He said local production of items such as car seats, leather, and oil filters had been prioritised to meet domestic demand and reduce reliance on imports.
On support, he said the council had engaged parts manufacturers, particularly in Nnewi, to support their efforts.
“We have had engagement with them in Nnewi, we went to meet them in their offices in their workshop, in the plants in Nnewi, because we have noticed a lot of them are around that axis.
“And then we are putting together an industrial park in Nnewi.
“So the essence of the industrial park is to bring everybody under the same roof so that they will be able to have shared facility,” he said.
According to the NADDC boss, sharing facilities such as power, training and testing centres will reduce costs and make local products more competitive.
“These facilities will ensure that locally made products meet international standards as verified by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).”
The director-general said in alignment with Tinubu’s vision, NADDC conducted extensive training programmes for technicians and roadside mechanics while focusing on manpower development.
He said NADDC had developed regulations for Electric Vehicles (EVs) and CNG vehicles and enhanced the skills of local technicians to ensure they were well-equipped to handle the evolving automotive industry.
Osanipin reiterated that the focus on made-in-Nigeria vehicles, parts development, and manpower training underscored the present administration’s commitment to creating a sustainable and competitive automotive sector.
He said: “Our efforts are geared towards creating a robust automotive sector that can compete globally while providing economic opportunities for Nigerians.”
