From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has signed an agreement with Israeli and Japanese companies to begin assembling and manufacturing environmentally friendly, green, electric and smart automobiles by 2023.
The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) entered into partnership with the Israeli, Japanese and Nigerian companies on Thursday, in Abuja.
According to Israel’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, the partnership, which is a combination of Israeli, Japanese and Nigerian technologies, will help address the many challenges affecting Nigeria’s transportation and environmental sectors.
“We are talking about bringing electronic Motorcycles into Nigeria which will be a programme that is green, environmentally friendly.
“It offers people a cheap way and safe way of transport and even has a technology to ensure that the motorcycles are only used for legal and appropriate purposes.
“When we look at what the problems are in the world and in also in Africa and in Nigeria, we are talking about issues of fuel scarcity, we are talking about green technology, we are talking about the need to provide cleaner, cheaper, easier transport.
“And here we are, having Israeli and Japanese companies coming together with Nigerian partners to provide cleaner, greener, newer, exciting technology that is expected to move people, population across the country.
“I believe that a programme that is going to start in Nigeria will be successful and will go across Africa,” Freeman said.
Executive Vice Chairman, NASENI, Mohammed Haruna, who lauded the collaboration, said it has come to stay and would be domesticated in the country.
He went on to say that this project Nigeria would see to the production of Nigerian-made electrical vehicles in the near future.
According to him, “The first attempt to domesticate certain technologies in this country, especially in the automobile industry, has not worked with continuous importation.
“NASENI has come into this now with the perfect partners, Japanese and Israeli companies their technologies are proven and known.
“But most importantly, Nigeria will not just be consuming this technology, we are here to make sure that we domesticate, produce and manufacture in Nigeria.
‘We are grateful and we are happy with this collaboration and we assure Nigerians that the automobile industry after this collaboration will not be the same again,” he said.
Representative of Israeli Company, Peramare Enterprise, Dr Ayal Raz, said that contrary to some perception, Nigeria was safe to invest in.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SIXAI, and Japanese Partner Sasi Shilo, said his company was keen on supporting Africa, especially Nigeria to build a sustainable nation with clean and safe technologies.
Chairman, PAN Nigeria Limited, Wadada Aliyu, described the initiative as historic and a starting point for technological evolution in Nigeria.