NADDC Plans Automative Hubs for Job Creation

NADDC Plans Automative Hubs for Job Creation

The Director General,  National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Jelani Aliyu MFR said his Agency has keyed into President  Muhammadu Buhari’s led Administration on Economic Diversification  Policy as the government made it a priority to diversify from the crude oil into  Agricultural,  Industry, Mining and Tourism sectors stressing that, “ when you talk about the Industry,  no other sector can play important  role as an Automotive Sector,  that is why we are excited and proud to be  one of the 17 Parastatals under Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and investment, saddled with responsibility of developing local automotive sector by  implementing  National Automotive Industrial Development Plan (NAIDP) which has 5 key elements’’.

Jelani Aliyu disclosed this in his Office in Abuja.

He stated that the 5 key components includes; Investment Promotion, Infrastructural Development, Improvement of Standard, Skills Development as well as Market Development.

He further explained that with these key areas of  NAIDP whose  focus is   to revive, develop and  sustain local Automotive Industry  in terms  of production of vehicles and its  components in Nigeria “ so when we talk about NAIDP, the important pillar is skills development, as  you are aware the present administration is committed to lift 100 million people out of poverty in the next ten (10) years and we can achieve that by creating jobs, building  more Industries, getting people  engaged in more productive lives. “that is why we are building Seven (7) Training Centres in each geo- political zone of the country, so as to empower youth across the country, ‘’ we are far in that projects and some of these Automotive Training Centres were already completed and are in the process of getting all the necessary equipment in place and those haven’t been completed would be completed soon”. He added

Jelani further said the Council is constructing 3 automotive  Hubs  in Sokoto, Ondo and  Owerri and these centres would  be equipped with all the necessary equipment and highly professional staff who will be able to diagnose  any vehicles, maintain or repair it,  right there,  “so with such  projects, I can say that we have ten (10) very important projects that are contributing towards fulfilling  President Muhammadu Buhari’s  promise to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty  in the next ten years”.

He further stressed that  another   key component of National Automotive  Industrial Development  Policy ( NAIDP)  will be  investment promotion into the  Automotive sector, the Council is working  with both local  and international  companies and other entities  to set  up assembly and production plants  in Nigeria, as a result of this initiative, billions  of US dollars had been invested  into the country, a number of Automotive plants have been set up by Automotive Companies such as  Honda, PAN Peugeot,  INNOSON, Nissan, ANAMCO, Dangote Trucks are assembling vehicles in the country.

“ we will continue to promote that investment, we are also talking with Volkswagen Company which whom  we have signed Memorandum  of Understanding (MoU) with, we are also discussing with other big international players to come into the  country and produce vehicles  locally” Jelani added.
He further disclosed that Infrastructure development  is another key component of NAIDP, NADDC  is working towards constructions  of 3 Automotive Industrial Parks in Kaduna, Ode- Omu  and Nnewi, these wuold be centralised locations with all  the necessary infrastructures such as;  electricity,  water connectivity and other resources to make it easier for companies  to come  in  and set up an industrial facilities within  these parks, so these would be a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Project initiative,  we are working closely with the relevant stakeholders and we believe these will be locations that will enhance and allow us to actualize local  content  development target and would  enable us develop more components  locally.

Another pillar of NAIDP is the homologation of the improvement of  standard, ‘’as you are aware the Automobile  is a very complex machine with many  different   components that all come together  to create that machine and it is  imperative that Nigerians are protected,  that any spare parts that  they  used  most meet minimum global standard which unfortunately isn’t the case, as I speak,  in our efforts to protect Nigerian Public,  we have almost completed  the construction of 3 Automotive Testing Centres  in  Zaria, Lagos and  Enugu’’.
These projects  would be  completed  before the end of this year, any spare  parts that has not  been tested by any one of the these centres, will be deemed  sub- standard or illegal, all these are  our efforts to make sure that the vehicles and the components are available in Nigeria and are safe and efficient”.

Another component under NAIDP is market development, one thing to build a vehicle, is another thing for people to be able to buy these vehicles, in order to achieve this, we have set aside billions of naira  and we are working with WEMA, ZENITH and JAIZ Banks to provide an  Automotive financing for made in Nigeria vehicles at a single digit interest rate  between 6 and 8 percent so that Nigerians can put down just 10 percent and drive off for the brand new assembled made in Nigeria vehicle and pay over a period of 5years , “we believe this will help Automotive Companies to be able to produce more because  they have ready buyers, and it will also help Nigerians to be in a position to be able to buy brand new vehicles instead of having to deal with old and dilapidated imported used vehicles”
In addition to these five key areas of NAIDP, the NADDC is also working with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources on a programme of converting diesel vehicles to gas, as you are aware, Nigeria has huge reserve of gas which most time have to even pay for it to be flared, “ we are working with Federal Ministry of Petroleum and all stakeholders to ensure we set up a production plant for kits that will be used in converting diesel Trucks into gas’’.

“We are also working with the relevant stakeholders to launch what we call ‘the NADDC Mechanics finding App.’,  so that we can differentiate between Professional Mechanic and those you may say a sub-standard workshops”.

“In a nutshell what NADDC does when you look at NAIDP, we are creating and developing a comprehensive eco- system that will support the development of sustainability of manufacturing within Nigeria”.

The Council  is working  with the National Assembly, parent Ministry  and Presidency to further review the Automotive Policy by setting up some Fiscal incentives that will promote  local production  and discourage importation of used vehicles,  “we believe Nigerians deserve vehicles that are new, modern, safe and efficient and the  only way to do that is by promoting  local Manufacturers and discourage importation of what could be dangerous to the Nigerian Public”, so Automotive Policy will provide 10 year tax holiday to any new Company that will produce vehicles in  Nigeria, as this will encourage local production and discourage importation of vehicles as envisaged in Executive Order 03 and 05 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari among others.

Ahmed Lawan Danbazau
For:  DD Press