The federal government has picked twelve universities, two from each geopolitical region of the country, to manufacture electric vehicles.

The initiative, which is part of the First Nigeria policy of the President Bola Tinubu administration to be financed by the Bank of Industry and other key financial institutions.

Director-General National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Oluwemimo Osanipin, disclosed this in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.

Osanipin spoke during a stakeholders’ engagement with the Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDON) and the Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (NAMA).

The theme of the engagement was: “Import of Used Cars and Dealership Regulation in Nigeria”.

He said that Nigeria was also committed to component and parts manufacturing as part of its preparation for made in Nigeria vehicles and fulfilment of the First Nigeria Policy.

According to him, the country was on its way to having a 100% made in Nigeria electric vehicles, adding that the federal government has already built stations in 10 of the universities in readiness for the take-off of the project.

He said, “When I came in, one of the major initiatives I pushed for was component development, but let me state here that no country, no company, no OEC manufactures its own vehicle.

“For example, the company that manufactures Mercedes has people who produce engines for them, but they have the design, the interior. But there are still people who produce the bulb, the braking system. In all this, no OEM manufactures all the components, but again, we are conscious of what happens after sales.

“Apart from producing parts to service vehicle production, you produce more parts to service after-sales, because let’s say annual production is 500,000, but the vehicles you service on the road are about 18 million. What that means is that we need to produce more parts.

“That’s why we are pushing for components and parts production. As of today, we are expanding. We have identified the components that we can do with comparative advantage and at a lower cost, like plastic parts, because some of those parts will come from by-products of petroleum products.

“So, there are lots of things that we can produce here in Nigeria. We are working with major assemblers. In terms of design, you are talking about how we have started an initiative where we gather 12 universities, two from each geopolitical zone, they are designing what we call the University shuttle bus, which is going to be 100% electric.

“It is going to be designed in Nigeria. Most of the cars will be sourced locally. We are on it. When they finish, we will come together again to work with assemblers and vehicle manufacturers and get support from companies that can finance it, like the Bank of Industry and other financial institutions, to be able to produce these vehicles.

“Gradually, we are going to have electric vehicles fully designed and manufactured in Nigeria. And in preparation for that, we started building stations in certain universities, and in the next few months, we will cover nothing less than 10 universities.

“By the time we have this, we will have built some infrastructure. Gradually, we are building for the future and building parts.”