National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) has resolved to train young talents on designing of automotive products to complement the efforts of universities offering engineering courses.
The agency’s director-general, Engr. Jelani Aliyu, said to achieve the objective, the council had trained 90 graduates in five geo-political zones of the country under its solid-works software capacity building programme for engineering designing of auto components.
Aliyu, who spoke at the closing ceremony of a two-week capacity building training for the Northeast geo-political zone in Bauchi yesterday, said the council would complete its zonal training scheme with the South-South region.
Represented by the council’s director of research, designs and development, Dr. Fidelis Mfewase Achiv, the DG said three participants were selected from each of the six states making up the Northeast with two additional reserves making 20 trainees that have undergone the intensive training in Bauchi.
He said after the zonal training, NADDC would conduct the programme in the 36 states of the federation and FCT, Abuja, and subsequently in the 109 senatorial districts with a view to inculcating the knowledge into the youths to design auto components
Jelani, who said the training came up as a result of skills shortage among youths in the automotive industry, noted that in the past automotive components were designed using T-square and drawing boards, but with technology improving on a daily basis, software is used for designing automotive components.
“Our council feels we should complement efforts of universities offering engineering prgrammes to inculcate the programme into the youths to design components for the automotive industry, not just for use in Nigeria, but even sell them in open markets in the international community,” he said.
The director-general observed that with over 50 assembly plants in Nigeria, assembling various brands of automotive products, developing youths’ capacity for designing some of these components, would inculcate the knowledge into them to make improvements in our local contents.
According to him, components would be designed and fabricated locally to not only fit into our vehicles, but also assist in saving foreign exchange that are used in importing these components for our assembly plants, saying the programme is open for various engineering disciplines for people who are graduates and who are unemployed.
