The National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) will soon unveil ambulance designed by the council for health and emergency services in difficult terrains such as rural areas.
The vehicles will be equipped with telemedicine and inter-connectivity
Director-general of the agency, Jelani Aliyu, made this disclosure during a media parley in Abuja.
“We have a team from Zaria, consultants and we are evaluating and going through the suspension system to make sure that it is capable enough.
“We are doing a lot of this digitally and we intend to build a fully functioned prototype. We believe that Nigeria has developed and nobody must be left behind,” he said.
Aliyu also disclosed that following improvement in Nigeria’s auto industry with private sector investments now worth over N500 billion, German auto manufacturing giant, Volkswagen, is set to launch a comeback to Nigeria after its exit in the mid-1980s, following economic downturn.
According to him, discussions had already commenced following a recent visit of a top executive of the firm to Nigeria where he met with the minister of industry, trade and investment, Otumba Niyi Adebayo; minister of state, Amb. Mariam Katagum, as well as himself.
“They had fruitful discussion with the minister and minister of state, and went round to have a feel of the automotive industry in Nigeria. So, they discussed, not just with government officials, but also with those on the ground, who sell vehicles to understand what type of vehicles are more popular or applicable to Nigeria. This shows the commitment of Volkswagen.
“We also had the opportunity to go to Japan and met with all the major automotive manufacturers; we met with Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Kawasaki, Suzuki; and all these companies are really interested in expanding their footprint in Nigeria; some of them already have facilities in the country, working with third party Nigerian companies.
