By Lucy Ogalue
Keffi, March 4, 2024(NAN) The Federal Government has reiterated that diversifying the country’s energy mix to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) will create more jobs and wealth for Nigerians.
The Director-General National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), My Joseph Osanipin, said this at the Critique/Validation Workshop for the recently developed National Occupational Standard (NOS) in Keffi on Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NOS is for the conversion, calibration and maintenance of CNG/autogas-powered vehicles and electric vehicles service/maintenance in Nigeria.
“The development of the NOS you are about to discuss is a testament to the efforts the council is making to ensure skills development and upgrade in the automotive sector.
“ NADDC is promoting the development of CNG/Auto Gas-Powered and Electric vehicles in Nigeria and creating the enabling environment for them to thrive.
“ This will reduce the dependency on petrol and diesel and mitigate environmental concerns (greenhouse gas emissions).
It is also a means of diversification of the Nigerian economy and will lead to more job opportunities and wealth creation for Nigerians.
According to the NADDC boss, the essence of the workshop is to ensure that inputs of all relevant stakeholders are captured in the making of this national document.
He said: “It is expected that the document that will come out of these efforts will be of international standards and help to drive the auto sector to its well-deserved position globally.
“ When fully operational, the framework will place out-of-school children, working adults, graduates and apprentices at both formal and non-formal settings with skill acquisition and competency.
“I therefore urge all of you to give this national assignment the best it deserves.”
According to Osanipin, the NOS has been developed through the collaborative efforts of all relevant stakeholders in Automotive sector.
While restating the importance of CNG, the director-general emphasised the need for training, which he said would not be possible without a guideline/manual.
“The key areas of CNG training has to do with the conversion, storage, transportation, calibration, and maintenance among others.
“We need to conduct training and for you to conduct the training, there must be a manual for those training to be done,” he said.
On readiness, he said various stakeholders from different sectors were involved who would play different roles.
The stakeholders include academicians, technicians, people already working on CNG conversions, ITF, SON and more that have come together to develop this manual.
“And by the time we develop this manual, it will put the artisans through the necessary training.
“It is a competency based training that will ensure the real technical know-how is transfered to the artisan so that we will be able to develop technical aspect of the CNG.
“No country had everything going for them at once, we have to train people to acquire the knowledge and so, this is the process we have started now.
On high cost of conversion of CNG vehicles, Osanipin said,“when you look at the cost of maintaining your vehicle in the long run, you will see the advantage therein in CNG.
“The cost is not that much when you look at the benefits, so we are focusing more on the benefits.
Other than the financial benefits, we have the human environment benefits and so on.”
NAN reports that various stakeholders and partners present at the workshop reiterated their commitments to collaborate with the NADDC to drive the automobile sector of the country. (NAN)
