Categories: Auto

UNILAG, Nord sign agreement to establish on-campus auto assembly plant, others

The University of Lagos has signed a historic a Memoradum of Agreement with an indigenous auto firm, Nord Motors, for the establishment of an automobile assembly plant on the campus.

The project also involves the Nord team setting up a car showroom to display the locally assembled vehicles and provide a platform for practical training of willing and qualified students of the school in the areas of auto assembling, repairs, service and maintenance of vehicles.

Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony ob Thursday, UNILAG Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said it was the first time such collaboration between the university and any automobile company in Nigeria would be sealed.

He described it as an evolutionary Triple Helix Model of bringing the government, the industry and university together for the benefit of the country.

“What we are doing today is evolutionary Triple Helix Model in which we are bringing the industry to the campus. This is the first time this type of thing will be happening in any university in Africa.

“What this means to us therefore is that they will start assembling the car in this university of Lagos, putting into consideration, the economic situation of this country.

“Our students will be able to gain firsthand experience; not only students of engineering, but architecture, finance, marketing, as well as those in creative arts.

“Some good ones could also be employed here and that will expose them at the international level, in the area of automobile engineering. This will be a great opportunity for our students in different departments to contribute to the development of automobile in Nigeria.”

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According to him, education has gone beyond dishing out theory to the students, adding that there is an absolute need for the practical application of the studies.

He said, “With what we have therefore witnessed today, it may now lead to the evolvement of the Department of Automobile Engineering. This may happen in no distant time, hopefully in 2023.

“It is subsumed now in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. But very soon, we will be having the automobile engineering stand as a department of its own. It will also serve like their laboratory.”

Prof Ogundipe stated that the university had in abundance experts in relevant departments to support the project in the area of research and cognitive development.

He commended the Nord team for the initiative and congratulated the university’s council, members of staff and students as well as all the stakeholders associated with UNILAG for the feat.

The Chief Executive of Nord Motors, Mr Oluwatobi Ajayi, said the initiative could be the beginning of industrial revolution in Nigeria, where students would not only see how vehicles are made but be part of the production process.

“By this time in two months, you will be seeing a beautiful showroom and a working assembly plant on the UNILAG campus.”

He also said, “It is time we must come together to return Nigeria to a producing nation and not a consumer nation. And one of the things we need to do in this regard is to start from our school, catching them young and equipping them.”

“People around the continent will come to Nigeria to shop for vehicles and their components. And with this, Nigeria will take its place among industrial giants in the near future,” he said.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (Development Services), Prof. Ayodele Atsenuwa, had earlier given the background of the project.

She recalled having the CEO of Nord Motors, Mr Ajayi, as one of the judges at an innovative engineering event with potential investors at the UNILAG last year, where he expressed interest in the quality of presentations that the students who pitched put forward.

She said, “From there, we started to talk. We said we would like our students studying mechanical engineering to come as interns to Nord Motors to have hands-on experience.

“Nord in its reply said if we do not mind they could put up a work station on our campus to enable the students to learn practically the business of automobile.

“We have put together a Memorandum of Agreement with details of how we will partner Nord Motors to the benefit of the faculty and the students.

“Under the agreement, we have the following objects: to facilitate and develop a platform for willing and qualified students of UNILAG in the act of manufacturing and assembling of cars in conjunction with Nord Motors; create a skill development drive of resolving unemployment crisis among youths that are employable to develop a career way with Nord Motors; to create a situation where UNILAG can play in the value chain in the car manufacturing business in Nigeria; to create an opportunity to train at least 15 students annually in the University of Lagos to study and acquire automobile skills at no cost; to provide automobile services, maintenance at the UNILAG for the staff and students at discounted prices, among other things.”

According to her, the project will be a major step towards achieving university-industry collaboration for the benefit of the country.

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