By Felix Khanoba
The National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) has expressed its readiness to revive dead vehicle parts manufacturing companies in the country.
Director General of NADDC, Joseph Osanipin, made this known during a courtesy visit to his office by members of the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN), on Monday in Abuja.
He said the agency would provide the necessary mechanism that will encourage local production of vehicle batteries, tyres and other components in the country as obtainable in time past.
“In those days, cars get their tyres, batteries, foams etc manufactured in Nigeria . All these can still be achieved in Nigeria.
” Even though most of industries are dead, we intend to support them to revive. When we have them working, we would have increase local content and meet AfCFTA 30 percent of local content quota,” he said.
The NADDC boss said he would leverage on the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) to bring about the necessary development in the nation’s auto industry, adding that its enactment into law will attract massive investments into the country.
” We have the NAIDP to guide us. The implementation of the plan is my topmost priority. It is a plan and until we start implementing it, it remains a document.
” We need investors who will have that confidence and faith in the policy and with the support of the president and the National Assembly, we want that plan to be enacted, so we will continue to push for it, so that by the time we have it not just as a plan but an Act of Parliament, foreign investors will have confidence in investing into the sector.
“The NAIDP stands on seven pillars and these are what we want to implement. These includes drive investment; to boost the market by expanding it. Part of what I want to do is to boost patronage of Nigeria-made vehicles and we cannot achieve that without the reportage of what our assemblers are doing.
“We know this is a process and we do not expect our local manufacturers and or assemblers to start but with the support of everyone including the media, we can make it faster. If we want them to get there without that support, it will take a longer time.
“I was at Innoson plant and it beats my imagination what they are doing there, the kind of investment that is going on there as well as what will come out of there. A lot of Nigerians do not know the kind of technology that is there.
We also want to encourage the development of component parts sector. “
Speaking further, the NADDC boss said the agency is determined to boost infrastructure in the area of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered vehicles and Electric Vehicles (EV).
” With CNG, it is a new technology for most of us because if you take a look at Nigerian roads, more than 99 percent of vehicles are still fuel or gas powered and this means if you have one precent using CNG, it will be insignificant.
” But we are moving away from PMS powered vehicles and this calls for serious preparation. We are preparing ourselves in terms of the standard and quality required, training, monitoring.
” On EV, we are trying to put in place necessary infrastructure. EV may require more infrastructure than CNG. Even though it is capital intensive, we are putting our axe together and keep out heads high with the moving trends.
“We have to make so many sacrifice now in order to reap the gains of the future. We need the media to educate the public that this period of pain is going to be a very short period but it will produce gains that will be enjoyed later,” Osanipin added.
