Joseph Osanipin, Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), emphasized that vehicles assembled in Nigeria should include at least 40% locally manufactured components to maximize their economic impact.
Speaking after a two-week training in Abuja, organized by NADDC in partnership with South Korea's Midas IT Co., Osanipin highlighted the importance of fostering local production in the automotive sector.
The training focused on equipping engineers with advanced skills in using Midas NFX software for automotive design.
The director general, who was represented by the Director, the Directorate of Research Design and Development, Dr. Fidelis Achiv, said, “We are working to achieve a level whereby we can go back to assembling vehicles that have up to 40 percent 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 tires, 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.