TECHDIGEST – Nigeria’s revived automobile industry has a new innovative mini car designed to be affordable and resilient enough to withstand infrastructural challenges particularly rough roads.

The locally developed Bajaj Qute cars resulted from the collaboration between the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) and Vasco Technology Solutions Limited (also known as Africar).

The Bajaj Qute cars were officially launched into the market recently in Ibadan. All modeled for ride hailing services, the new vehicles built in Lagos by the Stallion Group, are expected to improve transportation first in Oyo state and then across Nigeria as it increases in production and market-acceptance.

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Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, described the Stallion Group as a “home-grown conglomerate adding value to the nation’s economy for the past 52 years.”

He lauded Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde for creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurship to thrive and assured that the federal government will continue to support states to drive the national economy in the area of local manufacturing.

“The environment you have created is enabling the likes of Africar,” the minister added.

The Director General of the NADDC Mr. Jelani Aliyu, MFR, was represented by the Director, Industrial Infrastructure Department, Dr. Nua Omisanya, in delivering a welcome address at the launching of AFRICAR held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on 4th, April, 2022.

Africar is a modern ride hailing service with dedicated vehicles and the Bajaj Qute cars will further strengthen its growth.

According to the CEO of Africar, Mr. Sahil Vaswani, all of the cars being used for the project are assembled in Lagos at the Stallion Group’s manufacturing plant.

“This car is assembled in Nigeria by Nigerians and is environmentally friendly, with 50% lower carbon emissions than the average car” said Vaswani.

Also speaking during the unveiling of the vehicles, Director General of the NADDC, Jelani Aliyu, said the mini-buses are benchmarked on international standards and are part of government’s overall vision to make Nigeria a hub for automotive manufacturing technology in Africa.

“NADDC continues its unwavering dedication to the support of local automotive production, and also continues to promote some of the latest technologies being developed,” said Aliyu. He was at the Ibadan launch by represented by the Director, Industrial Infrastructure Department, Dr. Nua Omisanya.

According to Aliyu, the NADDC has worked tirelessly to ensure growth and sustainability of the Nigerian automotive industry so as to enhance the sector’s contribution to the national gross domestic product (GDP).

Source: ITedgenews 

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TECHDIGEST – More than N500 billion private sector investment has gone into Nigeria’s automotive industry in the last few years to underscore its rebound and the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari, said Director General, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Jelani Aliyu.

According to him, a lot of the investment has gone into revamping the once moribund local auto industry and encouraging growth of new areas like electric vehicles (EVs).

“We have encouraged, supported, and enabled the private sector to come and put in over half a trillion naira to set up factories and assembly plants across the country,” said Aliyu to the media in Sokoto, at the weekend.

Adding: “We have companies and assembly plants in Lagos, Nnewi, Kaduna and Kano. Some are beginning to come up in Bauchi, Kano and Ogun states. So, there are a number of companies actually producing and assembling vehicles in Nigeria.”

He said these companies have a combined capacity of producing up to 400,000 vehicles per year but “we are not there yet, we are not producing 400,000 vehicles per year, because of market challenges.”

The NADDC boss said the agency was working to drive further investment and get more stakeholders participation in the sector.

His words: “We are, however, doing a lot to unlock that potential and put a stop to the importation of new and used vehicles. As we speak, you can see that there are individuals and companies that believe in the current and future economy of Nigeria in a such a manner that they can invest this huge amount of money,” he explained.

The NADDC is currently working to implement an automotive policy to further woo investors into the country. The agency has already engaged KPMG to review the automotive policy to sync with the best global practice in the auto industry.

“We need a set of regulations to ensure that government gives maximum support to those who invest in this sector, because, when these companies come in, they put in hundreds of millions of dollars.

“They want to be sure that regardless of what the government is doing, their investments must be protected,” Aliyu said while expressing optimism that the policy and ongoing discussions by the NADDC with the likes of Toyota, Volkswagen and Nissan will encourage the companies to directly set up their own production plants in the country.

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TECH DIGEST – Nigeria is gradually moving towards a vehicular industry driven by non-fossil fuel. Almost five months after unveiling the country’s first electric vehicles by Hyundai, the federal government on Tuesday commissioned the first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

An electric vehicle charging station connects an electric vehicle (EV) to a source of electricity to recharge electric cars. They are becoming a common landscape feature worldwide with the increasing shift from fossil-energy cars. There are now 26,000 electric vehicle charging stations open to the public in the U.S., with more than 84,000 plugs as at July 2020.

An initiative of the National Automotive Design and Development Agency (NADDC), under the Elective Vehicle Pilot Project, the commissioning was attended by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo inside the university’s Faculty of Engineering, NADDC Board Chairman, Senator Osita Izunaso; and NADDC Director General, Jelani Aliyu.

Others were UNILAG Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatowin Ogundipe; and Chief Executive Officer of Stallion Group, Anant Badjatya, with many other dignitaries.

The minister described the program as another initiative of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to promote advanced technology transfer and the development of sophisticated human capital in the country.

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