By Moses Akaigwe
The quest for foreign collaborations and direct investments in Nigeria’s automotive industry, continued recently when the Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council {NADDC}, Jelani Aliyu, visited Turkey where he held useful discussions with industrialists in the sector.
Apart from meeting the Mayor of Sakarya, Ekrem Yüce, the NADDC DG discussed potential areas of Turkish collaboration and investment in the Nigerian automotive sector, with emphasis on electric vehicles, agricultural tractors, and auto components production.
The Sakarya province is a major automotive manufacturing hub in Turkey.
During the visit, the Director General inspected Turkey’s new electric car, TOGG T10X, and committed to working towards bringing the manufacturer, Türkiye’nin Otomobili Girişim Grubu, to Nigeria.
Aliyu had in 2022 visited at least two countries – the United Arab Emirates {UAE} and Spain – in search of foreign collaborations and investments in Nigeria’s automotive sector.
While NADDC’s visit to manufacturers in the European country was expected to contribute to the revamping of auto component production in Nigeria, the trip to the UAE and the resultant partnership with an auto firm was expected to give traction to Nigeria’s drive towards the production of electric and solar-powered tractors locally.