The Solar Energy Society of Nigeria, SESN, has conferred their fellowship on the Director-General of the National Automotive Development Agency, NADDC, Jelani Aliyu, in view of his contribution toward the promotion of solar energy in the country.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the fellowship was conferred on Mr Aliyu on Monday during the SESN’s 38th National Solar Energy Forum, NASEF 2020, which took place at the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Sokoto State.
Shortly after the conferment, the NADDC director-general delivered a keynote address for Prof. A.S Sambo annual lecture series on the theme: ‘Future Outlook of Solar Energy in Nigerian Transportation Sector’.
Speaking on the NADDC’s efforts to promote and support the development of the automotive sector in the country, Mr Aliyu said the agency was specifically directing more and more energy towards Electric Vehicles.
According to him, the NADDC is seriously committed to supporting automotive stakeholders who have demonstrated efforts towards the adoption and deployment of electric technology.
“As a result of these efforts some of our stakeholders are beginning to introduce the production/assembly of Electric Vehicles in the country: Hyundai Nigeria has just introduced the Hyundai Kona, an outstanding vehicle with a range of 482km of pure zero-emission when fully charged.
“Jet Motor Company and Omaa Motors (a new indigenous Nigerian company) are each developing Electric Buses for Nigeria, the government of Ebonyi State is working on introducing Electric Vehicles in the state, and we are giving all of them the necessary support as per the authority of our mandate. The Omaa is an efficient 15 seater Electric Mini Bus,” he disclosed.
The director-general also disclosed that the agency, in collaboration with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, University of Lagos and Usman DanFodio University, has started an Electric Vehicle Pilot Program, so as to further understand the challenges, opportunities and strategies for the production of electric vehicles in the country.
He said: “We shall deploy Electric Vehicles at these three institutions and collaborate with them in Monitoring and Evaluation so as to gather the necessary empirical data needed to develop an Electric Vehicle Policy.
“Usman DanFodio University has already allocated land for this project, and as soon as we finish the ongoing procurement process we shall commence construction and deploy the Electric Vehicles.
“We hope that this project will expose the fine students of this university to this exciting technology, enable them to get an excellent grasp of it, and empower them to develop it further for even more effective Nigerian applications,” he added.
