The National Automotive Design and Development Council has enlisted twelve public universities to develop an eight-seater electric vehicle.

The NADDC anchored the project on an ‘8-seater Electric Campus Shuttle Bus Competition,’ which commenced its first phase recently at the University of Lagos.

NADDC Director-General Joseph Osanipin noted that the Federal Government aims to support the best minds to develop better electric batteries for vehicles.

“We want the university community to look at batteries. Is there anything we can do to elongate battery lifespan? That is why we are here,” he noted.

Osanipin further promised logistical support, stating, “We are throwing a challenge to the Nigerian university community so that they can know that within the course, we can do whatever other people in China and the USA are doing.

“The difference between here and America is the facility they use, which we don’t have.  Now we will support them with some of the logistics so that they can get whatever exposure the students outside the country have.”

He added that the agency’s interaction with higher learning institutions would extend to polytechnics and technical colleges.

According to NADDC, the competition will go on for six months, and the students will be judged based on their project management skills, global automotive sector insights, and component sourcing and supply chain management.

NADDC’s Director of Vehicle Electrification, Ayinde Abdullahi, noted that the competition would ensure a promotion of innovation and self-sufficiency in the Nigerian automotive sector.

Abdullahi explained, “This initiative is a significant milestone in our efforts to equip students with practical project management, design, and sourcing skills while fostering innovation and local content development in the automotive sector.

The competing universities drawn from the six geopolitical zones include Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto; Modibbo Adama University, Yola; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University; University of Abuja (Yakubu Gowon University); and University of Ilorin, Ilorin.

Also, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Federal University of Technology, Owerri; University of Benin; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; University of Lagos, Yaba; and University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt.

A competing team’s instructor and professor of industrial sculpture at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ken Okoli, hailed the NADDC’s competition as a “good business.”

He told The PUNCH, “This is good business because we are using more universities. We are tapping into an industry that is growing again. The reach is wider now. Industry stakeholders are engaged, and I hope the bureaucracy will not crash it.”

Okoli chaperones ABU Zaria’s Shell Eco-marathon Team of 10 students drawn from the institution’s faculties of environmental design, engineering, and mass communication. He described the Campus Shuttle Bus Competition as a dream project that the government has brought to life.

The don expressed optimism about the programme’s impact on the future of manufacturing in Nigeria. He noted that although the manufacturing sector currently struggles with energy infrastructure, it can start looking into energy production.

“The manufacturers can start looking at making (energy) for themselves. The government cannot do everything for us,” the don asserted. “The future of electric vehicles is bright in Nigeria.”

NADDC partnered with companies, including Lanre Shittu Motors, Dangote Sintoruck West Africa Ltd., and Oando Energies, among others.