The Federal Government, through the National Automotive Design and Development Council, says it has put in place the necessary structures and frameworks to begin the manufacturing of 10 essential vehicle spare parts locally.
It said this move will help reduce the country’s dependence on spare parts imports which currently gulps $1bn annually.
The NADDC Director General, Joseph Osanipin, according to a statement on Saturday, disclosed this at an event to conclude a two-week training of auto engineers and software automotive design in Abuja.
The training boot camp focused on Midas NFX software for automotive design skills was organised in collaboration with Midas IT Co. of South Korea and trained 15 participants.
Speaking, the DG, represented by the Director, Directorate of Research Design and Development, Fidelis Achiv, noted that the council is ready to produce spare parts for over 11 million vehicles plying Nigerian roads.
He also said the council is working to achieve a local assembling component of 40 per cent from less than one per cent assembling capacity currently.
He said, “We are working to achieve a level whereby we can go back to assembling vehicles that have up to 40 per cent locally manufactured components. We have vehicle assemblies in Nigeria but the assembling that is going on is not adding much value to the economy.
“Vehicles that have been assembled come in completely built, and they just remove the tyres, remove the exhaust system, remove the engine, ship them, come and assemble them here. But we want to transform from that to a level where these vehicles come in unpainted, the welding is done here, some components parts are produced here and the assembly will add more value, and employ more people. We have over 11 million vehicles on our Nigerian roads.
“Of the over 3,000 parts in a vehicle, if we can leverage on producing just 10 that we can beat our chest, that in the whole world, Nigeria produces these 10 components and they are best, the market is going to be huge. Our economy will change.”
“So the essence is to train these engineers to be able to design parts, to be able to produce parts so that we can be self-sufficient in vehicle parts production in Nigeria.”
The Managing Director, FAZSAL Nigeria Limited, Abdul-Lawal Zubair, in his remarks, charged the participants to produce innovative designs to advance the automotive industry.
He said, “You have not just seen the theory of design but with practicality. So as you go along, if you have a plan to work, there are opportunities out there. Solve the issue for us. There is a reason among all the software for this agency to choose MIGAS NFX.
“Let them be proud of you. They can call you for advanced training. Possibly they can take you to South Korea for training. Don’t just know the software and keep it. Be innovative and give solutions.”
Responding, a participant, Lukman, thanked the council for the opportunity and pledged to utilise the training for the benefit of the country.
He said, “We are thankful to National Opportunity Design and Government Council. We are thankful to NADDC and Midas IT. Midas NFX is a software that mainly is all about modelling and analysis. I think that makes sense to you. We were exposed to some software which we will put in to study professional activities. But with the idea of Midas NFX, I observe that Midas is all in one. It is all about modelling and analysis, which makes it outstanding and diverse.
“The knowledge that we gained in this training has widened my level of thinking and reasoning. Midas has taught me how to be creative in terms of nothing new. All we are interested in is how to be creative in terms of consuming what we produce. We try to produce what we consume as well.
“This software gives a platform for optimizing design. It is a template at which you can do what is in the market. You can introduce ideas of creativity in such a way that you will be able to understand what is in the market.”