A non-government organization, Automobiles and Road Safety Initiative has decried the low percentage of current automobile repair/maintenance technicians in the country.

The NGO also stated that the technicians are ageing and are not adequately equipped in terms of capacity to embrace and acquire requisite latest automotive technology and development to function as repairers of modern-day automobiles that come with sophisticated brain boxes.

To this end, the Board of Trustees of the organisation established the West Africa Automotive Institute, whose infrastructure was launched on December 14, 2022.

President of the organization, Samuel Oriowo, stated this at a conference to announce the second Nigeria yearly automotive industry awards to be held on November 27 in Lagos.

Oriowo said the institute was established to address the obvious gaps therein and to train and retrain younger people from the communities and colleges on the best and most authoritative techniques of automobile maintenance.

He said the institute is a novel idea that will elevate knowledge and practice and encourage young people who will promote safe driving and durable motor car initiative with emerging technology from vehicle manufacturing plants to the mechanic workshops.

According to him, the organisation is looking up to the Federal, State and the Local governments, companies and kind-hearted individuals for donations and sponsorships to drive the process of making the institute functional in the effective training of technicians for the automobile market.

He added that people would be trained on motor vehicle maintenance techniques, auto electrical techniques, global fabrication, electronic parts identity codes, Internet communications in automobile engineering, design, safety practices and budget management at the various vehicle workshops in the country and beyond.

Speaking on the award, he said it was established to recognise enterprise, encourage creativity and to reward excellence among key players in the motoring industry in Nigeria.

The award, in its second edition, with the theme ‘Celebrating the best and brightest of the Nigeria automotive industry’, has categories enlarged and several sectors of the industry have been considered appropriate for honour.

Also speaking at the event, Deputy Corps Commander, Operations, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Lagos Sector Command, Lucas Oguntade, said issues on road safety should be the responsibility of everybody, stating that the government alone cannot ensure safety on roads.

Oguntade listed the causes of road traffic crashes to include human, environmental and mechanical factors, saying if individuals can conquer the mechanical factor; it would reduce the numbers of accidents on the roads.