FG, Innoson sign agreement to commercialise automobile research results

The Federal Government and Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company have signed an agreement to convert results of automobile research and development activities conducted by the National Agency for Science & Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) to commercial automobile products.

The agreement was signed in Abuja on Wednesday by chief executives of Innoson and NASENI.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Federal Government, said the dream of President Muhammadu Buhari to see that NASENI’S designs and technologies were transfered to the private sector had become a reality.

Haruna said, “The partnership between Innoson Motors and NASENI started in 2013 when NASENI produced and launched its first “Made-in-Nigeria motorcycle (NASENI M1), but I am happier today that the deal to work together has been sealed.”

The NASENI chief executive officer said it was encouraging and patriotic for the Innoson Motors to believe in Nigeria and Nigerian engineers and their ingenuity.

He said, “NASENI’s research outputs are numerous, but most Nigeria entrepreneurs are not interested in working with us; they prefer to bring in finished products from overseas, thereby indirectly hampering the endogenous economic development of the country, Nigeria.”

The CEO of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Ltd, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, said NASENI had been doing a lot of things in the areas of research and development, but “today, we have commenced a partnership that will live forever.

“Both NASENI and Innoson Motors are passionate about lifting Nigeria out of economic woods, and with God on our side, we shall succeed together.”

He added, “NASENI’s moulds and designs are comparable to the ones which my company brings from abroad, so I ask myself, why don’t I patronize the designs by my fellow countrymen thereby building their confidence to do more. That’s why I am here.”

A statement by the agency’s Deputy Director, Information, Olusegun Ayeoyenikan, said with this collaboration, Nigeria would soon have a success story to tell in the production of automobile spares parts locally even to the extent of exports.

“A lot of things can be produced locally in Nigeria. I am assessing NASENI with the technologies it already has on ground synthesizing them with our own technologies, as the two joined together, we will move Nigeria forward. This joint efforts in research and development will not only benefit Nigeria and Africa but will be for the progress of the entire world. With what NASENI has on ground, working with them is worthwhile,” he added.