Nigerian Automotive Summit: Organizers in Final Planning Stages

Organizers of this year's Nigeria Automotive Summit are putting finishing touches to preparation for Nigeria's biggest automotive stakeholders' congregation scheduled to flag off on Monday June 16, 2014 at the upscale Oriental Hotel in Lagos.

According to organizers, the Summit which is designed to attract policy makers, global and regional industry leaders, is expected to support the Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) by highlighting the crucial new steps being taken by the Federal Government to enhance investment and partnership in the sector.

Among other objectives, the summit will highlight opportunities for joint ventures, industrial infrastructure development, investments, vehicle sales, technology development, education and training in the emerging Nigerian automotive sector.

The event will also evaluate steps being taken by the Nigerian Government to support and maximize the potentials of the industry.

In a statement signed by the Director-General of the National Automotive Council, Engineer Aminu Jalal, the landmark event will create an avenue for the council to rub mind with stakeholders on the new automotive policy of the federal government.

Engineer Jalal is also confident that the summit would highlight opportunities provided by the policy for investment and joint ventures as well as the auto industrial infrastructure development.

Put together by Kempstone Media Ltd in conjunction with the National Automotive Council, the summit will among other things feature exclusive presentations from senior Government officials and industry experts, Multiple networking opportunities, Executive, plenary, special interest and hosted sessions.

Other highlights include, Governmental and industry leaders round-table, Cross industry panel discussions with Questions & Answers sessions, Technical workshops, and Product demonstrations.

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NIGERIA's DEMOCRACY @ 15: Jonathan Receives Made-in-Nigeria SUVs

As part of activities commemorating the 15th anniversary of Nigeria's uninterrupted democracy, President Goodluck Jonathan has been presented with three units of Made-in-Nigeria Nissan vehicles.

Mr. Sunil Vaswani, Chairman of Stallion Group made the presentation to Mr President at the International Conference Centre where a special event organised to mark the nation’s Democracy Day was held.

The vehicles, which were said to have been produced at the Stallion Nissan Motors Plant located on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway included a Nissan Patrol SUV, Nissan Almera (Sunny) saloon car and a Nissan NP 300 Pick-Up.

After the President inspected the vehicles, Vaswani said they met global standards of product and technology and that they were produced in Nigeria in pursuant of the Federal Government’s new Automotive Policy.

Vaswani said the plant was established following the signing of the agreement between Nissan Motor Company and West African conglomerate of the Stallion Group on October 9, 2013.

He commended the government’s automotive policy, which he described as a historic step towards industrial and economic rejuvenation.

He said, “We are grateful for implementing this initiative, which is part of the Federal Government’s seven-point agenda to attract Foreign Direct Investments and emancipate the dormant sectors of the economy.

“The evolution of automotive manufacturing sector in Nigeria would not only encourage more FDIs but stimulate industrial clusters such as original equipment manufacturers that include steel plants, glass manufacturers, aftermarket shops and transportation service providers leading to job creation and contributing significantly to the GDP.

“The current population of Nigeria can convincingly support more than half a million vehicles annually which is more than sufficient to sustain an emerging automotive industry.”

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Google Plans Self-Driven Cars

Google is to start building its own self-driving cars, rather than modifying vehicles built by other manufacturers.
The car will have a stop-go button but no controls, steering wheel or pedals.
Pictures of the Google vehicle show it looks like a city car with a “friendly” face, designed to make it seem non-threatening and help people accept self-driving technology.
Co-founder Sergey Brin revealed the plans at a conference in California.
“We’re really excited about this vehicle – it’s something that will allow us to really push the capabilities of self driving technology, and understand the limitations,” said Chris Urmson, director of the company’s self-driving project.
He added that the cars had the ability to “improve people’s lives by transforming mobility”.
But some researchers working in this field are investigating potential downsides to driverless car technology.
They believe they could make traffic and urban sprawl worse, as people accept longer commutes as they do not have to drive themselves.
Flexible windscreen
The BBC was given access to the Google team to talk about the secret project, and see early renderings of the car.
It looks almost cartoon-like, it has no traditional bonnet at the front, and the wheels are pushed to the corners.
It will seat two people, propulsion will be electric, and at the start it will be limited to 25mph (40km/h) to help ensure safety.
The most significant thing about the design is that it does not have any controls, apart from a stop/go button.
For early testing, extra controls will be fitted so one of Google’s test drivers can take over if there is a problem.
The controls will simply plug in, and Mr Urmson believes that over time, as confidence in the technology grows, they will be removed entirely.
The front end of the vehicle is designed to be safer for pedestrians, with a soft foam-like material where a traditional bumper would be, and a more flexible windscreen, which may help reduce injuries.
The vehicle will use a combination of laser and radar sensors along with camera data to drive autonomously.
It will depend on Google’s road maps, built specifically for the programme, and tested on the company’s current fleet of vehicles.

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INVESTIGATION: More Than 280,000 fairly Used Cars Imported Into Nigeria in 2013

Investigations have revealed that 280,057 fairly used cars were imported into the country last year as against 251,322 brought into the country in 2012,while the total tonnage as of last year was 1,454,080 as against 1,344,946 recorded in the previous year.

According to inward vehicle traffic statistics from the Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA), Josepdam terminal received 320 cars; Tincan Island Container Terminal received 2 cars; Ports and Cargo Handling Company cleared 1,977 cars; Five Stars Limited handled 112,742; Port Terminal and Multi-Services Limited handled 165,016; Kirikiri Lighter Terminal had none last year while the Josepdam handled 131; TICT 6 cars; Ports and Cargo Handling Company handled 944; Five Stars handled 96,285 cars and Port and Terminal Multi Services Limited handled 153,956 cars in the previous year.

Commenting on the increase over the previous year under review, Chief Superintendent of Customs and the image maker of the Port and Terminal Multi-Services Limited(PTML) Prince Steve Okonmah, who attributed this unprecedentend increase to efficiency and state-of-the-art handling equipment made available at the terminal, said apart from the fact that the terminal was new, the Customs Area Controller in-charge of PTML is a no-nonsense officer, whose doggedness every customs officer wanted to emulate, and the reason for the increased revenue generated last year.

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FRSC Suspends Deadline on Number Plates, Driver's Licence

Motorists in Nigeria can keep using their old number plates even beyond the initial June 30 deadline.

This is because the deadline has now been suspended by the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC

According to the agency, the decision was taken after a meeting of the Joint Tax Board in Edo state, South-South Nigeria.

Agency's spokesperson, Jonas Agwu who announced the decsion cited a recent court judgement against the FRSC in Lagos and Abuja.

Agwu observed that the decision which also relates to the Driver's Licence will be maintained “pending the outcome of an appeal filed by the FRSC,”

He added that the FRSC has directed its commanding officers to explore all available platforms such as motor parks, rallies, advocacy visits and other forms of public engagement in keeping with its 2014 strategic goal of improved public communication and road use education.

Following an earlier Federal High Court verdict in Lagos on 26 April, the commission affirmed that the court never vacated its statutory powers to design and produce the new number plate but only questioned its powers to fix deadline for enforcement of the new scheme.

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Cars built by Nigerian Students to Race in Rotterdam Marathon

Two cars manufactured by students of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, and their counterparts from the University of Lagos, UNILAG, have passed an international technical evaluation test in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Tuke-Tuke, built by the UNIBEN students, was on Thursday given the technical pass to participate in the 2014 Shell Eco Marathon along with 200 other cars from 26 other countries, mostly in advanced economies.

The Media Manager, Shell Nigeria, Precious Okolobo, said on Friday that the car built by the UNILAG student team, named AUTONOV II, was also issued the technical certification to join in the marathon, which began on Thursday.

The cars, which are under the solar battery-electric category, are participating in the race in the prototype class.

“Shell Eco-marathon challenges student teams from around the world to design, build and test ultra-energy-efficient vehicles,” Mr. Okolobo said. “The winners would be teams that go the furthest using the least amount of energy.”

The event, according to organizers, sparked a debate about the future of mobility and the inspiration of young engineers around the world to push the boundaries of fuel efficiency.

All cars were expected to pass a strict technical inspection test to confirm that they were not only fit for that purpose, but also safe, before they were allowed to join the race.

“The two Nigerian universities (UNIBEN and UNILAG) participating in the 2014 edition of Shell Eco-marathon Europe are the first teams from Sub-Saharan (Africa) to enter the global event,” Mr. Okolobo said.

The Nigerian cars would join the race for ultra-energy efficiency cars on the road.

The technical inspection was to certify cars qualified to perform the actual race that would see students around the world competing to produce cars of the future – those with the capacity to race for thousands of Kilometers on one litre of fuel.

Both teams also joined a specially chosen group of ten teams at an opening ceremony of the programme at the Ahoy Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands on Friday.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, SPDC Limited, operator of the NNPC, Shell Joint Venture, is sponsoring Universities of Lagos and Benin to the event.

Last year, SPDC JV also sponsored students from three universities, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Lagos, and University of Benin, to attend the Shell Eco-marathon Europe as observers of the 2013 edition.

Since then, students from UNIBEN and UNILAG have worked to build the cars participating in the Rotterdam Marathon this week.

In line with the main objective of Shell Eco-marathon, to challenge students from around the world to design, build and race fuel-efficient vehicles, the judges would be looking to reward the cars that drive farthest with the least amount of fuel.

During a visit to the Nigerian teams on Thursday, the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Ben Van Beurden, commended the Nigerian teams for their innovation and resilience, despite the challenges with technology in Africa.

He said the company would be willing to support the students realize their dreams.

“In my mind, Africa is the continent of the future. It has so much potential: human potential, resource potential. It has so much dynamism. It has so much growth today that I think this actually is going to be a very important milestone going forward. It is wonderful to have the Nigerian team here.”

“We have been doing this for over 30 years. It started in France and has gone all around the world. It is fantastic to see the scale that we have now. The energy, the enthusiasm and the innovation that has taken place, and the fact that we have a Nigerian team here participating is an incredibly milestone,” Mr. Beurden said.

Team Leader of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Kolapo Jolayemi, said the corporation was proud to have co-sponsored the students, seeing the level of innovation that they have exhibited.

Mrs. Jolayemi was excited that Nigeria was not only coming for the competition for the first time, but that the country’s representatives passed the technical evaluation.

“I feel great and proud to be a Nigerian, and I am even impressed by courage and efforts out in by Nigeria,” she said.

The supervisor of the UNIBEN team, Akii Ibhadode, said it was great that the school was able to pass the technical inspection the first time it was participating in the competition.

“Many teams do come. But this is the first time that we are participating and we didn’t know that we will come this far with the 10 technical tests,” he said. “I want to commend the dogged spirit Nigerians have.”

“Somehow, we were fast tracked to come and compete in Europe 2014. We had very little time to do the second version. We had to settle for this first version. It gave us so many problems. But thank God we were able to overcome the problems, especially concerning weight. We hope to do much better in 2015. The finishing would be great,” Mr. Ibhadode said.

The Team Leader of the UNIBEN students, Adekoya Adeyemi, was overwhelmed on receiving the evaluation certificate from the international Assessors, particularly the day the team passed the weight test, describing the experience as a miracle.

“I feel so happy and excited to be here and to be part of the achievement. This is the first time that Nigeria is coming for the competition, and we have passed the technical evaluation. I feel great and proud to be a Nigerian, and I am even impressed by the courage and efforts out in by Nigeria,” Mr. Adeyemi said.

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'We’ll challenge the world with Made-in-Nigeria cars!'

Chairman and Chief Executive of Innoson Group – manufacturers of Innoson brands of vehicles in the country, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, OFR, has said his Made-in-Nigeria vehicles were being manufactured according to the best international practices.

Chukwuma spoke to journalists after their facility tour of his vehicle manufacturing plant in Nnewi, Anambra State, weekend.

Chukwuma also said that Innoson Motors would continue to produce high quality products to make the world stand challenged that Nigeria, nay Africa “can do it”.

Brands rolled out of the plant include jeeps, patrol trucks, luxury, midi and mini buses.

The manufacturer who started business by importing spare parts and motorcycles said he ventured into manufacturing to create jobs for Nigerians and keep Nigeria’s money in Nigeria.

According to him, the continued importations of all shades of goods into the country, was creating jobs for foreigners and developing their economy for them while “our’s suffered.’’

He commended government’s support for the manufacturers, saying that they were succeeding because of government’s ample support.

He said the plant utilised 60 per cent of local content which encompasses body, tyres seats, batteries, rubber, plastic and other polymer products, light fittings among others for the production of its vehicles.

-ABEL KOLAWOLE

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