Moses Akaigwe
The Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council {NADDC}, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, last week met with a team of young engineers who presented to him an Electric Tricycle at the council’s headquarters in Abuja.
The team specialises in converting gasoline {petrol} engine tricycles to run on electrically charged lithium-ion batteries.
While presenting the E-Tricycle to the DG, the team leader, Mustapha Abubakar Gajibo, explained that when fully charged, it can cover up to 200 kilometres.
In his remarks, Aliyu congratulated the visitors for their efforts, and reiterated that the core mandate of the council is to develop the local automotive sector, and with the world moving towards the development of electric vehicles, Nigeria must not be left behind.
The Director General further hinted that the NADDC would sit with the engineers to see how best the agency would add value to what they are doing and make the E-Tricycle look different and more applicable to Nigeria’s unique environment,
Aliyu remarked, “The only viable future for Nigeria is one where the youth understand that they have to get up and physically do things. There is no difference between the youth that grew up in Nigeria and those that grew up in New York, but that commitment to succeed, and to a degree, the resources available.”
The DG also stated that the council was always ready to do everything possible to support the youth to excel, because they are the key to the success of the nation.
He explained that it was in recognition of the importance of youths that the NADDC had been training them in mechatronics, and is almost done with the construction of six Automotive Training Centres across the country.