The Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Joseph Osanipin, has challenged key players in the Nigerian automotive industry to think more about automotive components development and integration in assembly operations.

The DG disclosed this as a special guest of honour at the 2023 Nigeria Auto Journalist Association (NAJA) awards held in Lagos.

“Today we are here to celebrate however we need to challenge ourselves with the future of the Nigeria automotive industry. We need to take the necessary steps to make these changes. It starts with us, we are the ones to determine where the automotive sector will be heading in Nigeria,” he said.

Osanipin seized the opportunity to applaud NAJA for standing firm in promoting the local auto industry. He however challenged the awardees to consider component manufacturers in future NAJA awards projects.

Turning to NAJA, the DG raised concern that there was no award for ‘Component Parts Producer of the Year’.

He said you cannot get the whole without having smaller parts. So there is the need to begin to strategise on how to build parts to support the auto industry.

“I appeal to you to begin to think about what we can source locally to support the industry. We have foam that we can use to produce chairs, plastics, and glass for mirrors, all of which we can source locally to begin to improve our local content,” he said.

Over 29 persons and companies who have distinguished themselves in the industry were specially recognised and honoured in different award categories.