FG says Nigeria now has 21 automotive training centres

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, said this in Ado-Ekiti on Friday while performing the inauguration of an Automotive Training Centre promoted by the ministry.

He listed states where the projects were sited to include, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Kogi, Plateau, Niger, Kebbi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kano, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos, Ogun, Osun and lately, Ekiti.

He said for equity and fairness, the training centres were carefully sited to even the distribution of national assets across all the geo-political zones of the country.

“This will also reduce social vices amongst our teeming youths by providing them with much-needed employment.

“In line with the recently-approved policy on the Automotive sector of the Nigerian economy, it has become imperative that infrastructure and human capacity building be emphasised to align with the content of the policy.

“This is to address challenges bedeviling the automotive sub-sector of the Nigerian economy.

“The policy, which aims to achieve increase in local production of vehicles; 40 per cent local content as well as attaining 30 per cent locally-produced electric vehicles, is also aimed at generating about one million jobs,” the minister said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the project, located along Ado-Ekiti-Ilawe-Ekiti road, was constructed by the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC)

Speaking during the inauguration, Adebayo emphasised the importance of the centre to the socio-economic development of the country, noting that no fewer than one million jobs would be created for the teeming youths, through the centres.

He said that the centre would bridge the gap of infrastructure and human capacity development in the nation’s automotive sector, saying that youths would be trained with modern technology in the facility.

The minister commended the Director-General of NADDC, Jelani Aliyu, for his efforts at ensuring the construction of the centres across the country.

He urged the people to make use of the facility for the overall development of the society.

The director-general said the centres were established to reduce the increasing level of poverty in the country by enhancing economic growth.

Aliyu said that modern technological devices and equipment had been installed in the centres to service millions of vehicles to be handled by technicians trained by them.

“The servicing of the millions of motor vehicles on Nigerian roads shall be guaranteed, thereby promoting value for money through correct maintenance and proper handling techniques, to be delivered at these centres,” he said.

The State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Paul Adeyanju.

The governor said the inauguration of the centre would further enhance the development of the automobile industry in the country.

He explained that his administration, in the last six months, had initiated policies and programmes that would ensure industries, to thrive in the state.

Oyebanji said that he was committed to the acquisition of skills by youths, rather than waiting for unavailable white collar jobs.

The Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, commended the minister for his efforts and interventions in the ministry in the last four years.

He said the centre would serve as catalyst in addressing unemployment rate among youths in the society, warning against any attempt by unscrupulous persons to vandalise equipment at the centre.