Jelani Aliyu Dogondaji, Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), has presented the council’s plan to revitalize Nigeria’s automobile industry and encourage multinational businesses to set up production plants.
In a conversation with the media on Thursday in Abuja, he said that indigenous automakers could build 400,000 vehicles each year.
He said the council is implementing an automotive policy agenda to attract global businesses like Toyota, Volkswagen, and Nissan to establish production operations in Nigeria.
The council is implementing an automotive policy agenda to bring these companies back to Nigeria. Because these firms will invest hundreds of millions”.
“They want assurance that their investments would be protected regardless of the government.”
He said the council was created to make Nigeria a top automotive manufacturer.
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Boosting the local sector
The NADDC boss added that the council also has the objective to boost the local production of vehicles in Nigeria and discourage the importation of vehicles.
He observed that currently, companies such as Dangote, Sinotrucks, Innoson, Elizade, Lanre Shittu, Honda West Africa, Mikano and Nord all are producing vehicles in the country.
“We also have companies and assembly plants in Lagos, Nnewi, Kaduna and Kano, while some are beginning to come up in Bauchi, Kano and Ogun states.
“These companies have a combined capacity of producing up to 400,000 vehicles per year.
“We are however doing a lot to unlock that potential and put a stop to the importation of new and fairly used vehicles into Nigeria. There are individuals and companies that believe in the current and future economy of Nigeria enough to invest this huge amount of money,” he added.
Electric cars transition
Dogondaji explained that the country had taken major steps into aligning with the rest of the world over the current move on phasing out automobiles using combustible fuel by introducing electric cars, which he said Nigeria had also produced.
To this end, Dogondaji said, the council had entered into collaboration with the Bank of Industry and the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide long-term, single digit facilities for automotive start-ups to empower Nigerians and support local production.
While elucidating the current achievements of Nigeria in the production of electric vehicles, the DG disclosed that the project had created numerous job opportunities in the country in line with the national gas expansion programme.
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About NADDC
The National Automotive Design and Develop Council is created to study and review the automobile development industry in Nigeria as well as Encourage the development and production of raw materials such as sheet metal, alloys and special steel.
The Council’s vision is to transform Nigeria into a modern industrialized nation, and our mission is to design and implement policies, programmes and strategies for an effective, competitive and diversified private sector.
The Council is made up of a Governing Board drawn from relevant agencies of government such as: Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA); Automotive Local Content Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (ALCMAN); Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON); Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC); Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN); Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE); Federal Ministry of Industry, trade and investment (FMITI); Motorcycles Manufacturers Associations of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Bicycle Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.