In response to increasing demands in repairing faulty modern vehicles, the federal government on Tuesday inaugurated sector skills Council (SSC) to develop indigenous capacity to address such demands in the automotive sector.
Okechukwu Enelemah,the Minister of Industry Trade and Investment at the inauguration said there has been increasing concerns on the skills gap from graduates many of whom are retrained by industries to meet up with the required industry skills.
To this end,the minister said the training and skill development as a key component of National Automotive Industrial Development Plan,would focus on building indigenous capacity adding that the plan seeks to make Nigeria auto manufacturing hub, utilising our local human and material resources.
Represented by Aminu Jalal,the director general of National Automotive Council, Enelemah said,”The local content and skill development component of the policy will be boosted to achieve its results,in line with the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan”
He said,”there are deficiencies discovered on some of the mechanics that informed the decision to set up the SSC which are :unfamiliarity with the concept,functions and operations of sensor,electronic control units or modules in modern vehicles”
Also,”inability to perform engine,system diagnosis via computerised diagnostic equipment;lack of standard method of fault finding,improper tools,equipment and materials handling;lack of environmental consciousness and non adherence to safety standards while performing certain tasks”
On the impact of the SSC,the Minister said “Once it is fully functional,it would in no measure address the shortage of skilled manpower for the automotive sector,while also ensuring that skills trainees receive is adequate for the needs of various automotive industries.
Meanwhile representatives of VON automobile LTD,PAN Nigeria LTD, Innoson,Toyota, Coscharis Group,Lady Mechanics,NATA, NADDC,ASD Motors, ITF,University of Ibadan and NBTE were nominated for the automotive sector skills council.
It would be noted that Technological advancement has made modern cars to be mostly designed with complex electro-mechanical systems in addition to possessing over 2,000 parts,which some of these will occasionally be found to have design and/or manufacturing faults.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
