Message From the Chairman - January

2024 closed with two critical government intervention in the automotive industry :

Nigeria government program for sustainable road transportation with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), adoption, and   the promise of improved access to low cost automotive finance with the launch of NADDC automotive asset acquisition fund.

The overall expectation was that these development will positively impact  demand in the market, and make gains in the country energy transition plan. Not much attention to EV adoption was observed in 2024.

As  2025 opened however ,  private initiative project in transition to EV built up . This is as governments policy and development of charging infrastructure were still awaited.

Some of the new projects recorded have been quite robust and inclusive of provision for charging.

A few examples is the recently signed agreement by Kano state government of Nigeria with a Chinese company. The project aimed to assemble EVs locally with Electric Charging stations throughout the state.

Another company  launched an APP for hailing its fleet of EVs in some parts of the country. While a pilot operations for this scheme is ongoing, overall EV sales by existing local assembler has been recorded to deepen gradually.

The ongoing suggest that the region automotive market stakeholders  must now begin to position for EVs and CNG powered automobiles aftermarket . We look forward to exhibition of  these technologies in WAAS 2025.

Luqman Mamudu Automotive Industry Expert and WAAS Conference Chairman