FG to add automotive engineering to varsity curriculum

By Favour Nnabugwu

In a bid to demobilise automotive sub-sector as exclusive right of illiterates in the country, the Federal Government has begun moves to entrench Automotive Engineering degree curriculum in Nigerian universities.

The curriculum, to be implemented in selected Nigerian universities, is the first attempt by government to build the critical manpower for indigenous development of automobile industry in Nigeria.

Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Julius Okojie, who spoke at the inauguration of the committee to develop the curriculum in Abuja said there was need to develop all spheres of the nation’s economy.

Represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary, Mr. Akinbode Agbaoye, Okojie said the curriculum development was a collaborative effort of the commission and the National Automotive Council (NAC).

The Director of Research and Innovations, NUC, Prof. Val Ekechukwu, noted that the initiative would boost employment generation and drastically reduce the nation’s unemployment problem.

He pointed out that about 70 per cent of the German workforce is employed in automobile industry, and based on the number of cars being imported into the country and available raw materials; Nigeria has the potential for great development of the sector.

The D-G, National Automotive Council, Engr. Aminu Jalal, expressed sadness that while automotive technology has been progressing in leaps and bounds, “our training of people to service, repair, design, manufacture and test vehicles has remained outdated.”

He said in order to reverse the trend, the council started with the training of automotive mechanics and a study on mechanic’s skill gap assessment, which indicated 80 per cent skill deficiency of the Nigerian auto-technicians.

Vanguard Nigeria