FG Builds Centre to Check Influx of Substandard Tyres in Nigeria

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

The Director General National Automotive Design and Development Council( NADDC) Mr. Jelani Aliyu on Tuesday in Kano has revealed that the council is building three Test Centres in Nigeria to ensure that vehicles, materials and components produced, imported and used in the country meet minimum acceptable global standard levels.

Aliyu made this known to newsmen on Tuesday in Kano during a conference organised by the council that all tyres brought into and locally manufactured in Nigeria will have to be certified at this centres.

He also said the certification will help in eliminating substandard and counterfeit products, which has led to loss of many lives on the Nigerian roads.

Jelani who decried the high number of fake and substandard tyres imported into the country, put the figure at 20 million per year. This, he said is detrimental to the economy and future of the country.

“It simply means that, all that manpower, and all those jobs that are needed to produce that many tyres are lost to other nations.

“Despite our huge unemployment rate, instead of creating jobs in Nigeria, we are fueling jobs outside Nigeria. And so thousands of our youth that could otherwise be engaged in producing those tyres are now wasting their lives away in markets, motor parks and hawking on the streets”, he stressed.

He further stated that the council is also setting up three Automotive Industrial Parks at Nnewi, Kaduna and Oshogbo as centralised locations with all the necessary infrastructure to enable stakeholders set up the production of components such as tyres.

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