Govt moves to improve automobile industry

THE critical challenges, which the repair and maintenance of new generation of vehicles in Nigeria has been to technicians and mechanics is set to be a thing of the past as the Federal Government took a major move to boost efforts to increase national transport capacity.To achieve this, the National Automotive Council recently provided modern diagnostic equipment/tools for the teaching of automotive mechatronics in some training institutions in order to bridge the skill-gaps, in the industry.Minister of State for Industry, Josephine Tapgun said at the handing over ceremony in Abuja that the need to upgrade skills and increase human capacity in the area necessitated the acquisition of the equipment and tools by the council. The equipment and tools, worth about N54 million is expected to strengthen human capacity and enhance the competence of the auto technicians and mechanics thereby increasing their productivity efficiency.She said, surveys have shown that a wide skills gap exists in the industry. This has led to huge losses to the industry and the economy in general.Substantiating the skills gaps, Director General of the National Automotive Council, Mr. Aminu Jalal noted that technological innovations in the automobile industry worldwide were becoming more dynamic and sophisticated with tremendous expansion and new project activities in the automotive manufacturing space.He noted, unfortunately, the training of our mechanics has not kept pace with modern automobile technology. A survey of the skill-gap analysis of our automotive mechanics shows that they do not have the requisite skills to repair and maintain new generation vehicles. To bridge this gap, the Council had in the recent past organised automotive mechatronics training for our mechanics under their umbrella, Nigerian Automotive Technicians Association (NATA). These trainings were held in Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) Ltd, and Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO).To further remedy the situation, the Council had in collaboration with relevant stakeholders developed and published a curriculum for the teaching of automotive mechatronics in Nigeria. This curriculum will lead to the award of trade test 111, 11 and 1 certificates.The instructional manuals for delivery of the curriculum are presently being developed. It is to complement the equipment needs for training, that the Council acquired these equipment and tools for automotive mechatronics training in Nigerian institutions.The benefitting institutions selected are  Federal College  of Education (Technical ) Gombe, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna,  Federal Science and Technical College, Orozo Abuja, National Metallurgical Training Institute Anambra, Rivers State Polytechnic, Rivers State and Lagos State Polytechnics, Lagos.
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