THE Senate Committee on Industry has expressed its readiness to accelerate the passage of the proposed National Automotive Industry Bill 2026, to protect vehicle manufacturers and advance the development of the Nigeria automotive industry.
The committee made this known during an oversight visit conducted in collaboration with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), to key automotive facilities in Kano and Kaduna states as part of efforts to assess the readiness and capacity of Nigeria’s automotive industry to meet local demand.
The exercise, which commenced in Kano and proceeded to Kaduna, provided the committee with an opportunity to inspect facilities, assess their operational capacity and identify challenges affecting large-scale automotive production in the country.
During the exercise, committee visited the NADDC Automotive Training/CNG Conversion Centre in Kano, PAN Nigeria Ltd in Kaduna, and D-PAN in Kaduna, where members inspected the facilities and assessed their capacity to contribute to increased local vehicle production and the development of the automotive value chain.
Speaking during the inspection, Chairman of the committee, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, expressed satisfaction with the state of the facilities visited, noting that they were operational and have the capacity to support massive production.
He, however, stressed the need for sustained maintenance and stronger government support to enable the facilities to operate at full capacity.
Senator Fadahunsi further advocated policies that would encourage local production, particularly through restrictions on the importation of foreign-used vehicles, popularly known as Tokunbo, as well as tricycles that can be produced locally.
He noted that such measures would strengthen domestic manufacturing, create jobs and protect investments in Nigeria’s automotive sector.
According to him, the oversight visit was in national interest, as lawmakers need to understand the challenges confronting industries in order to develop appropriate legislative interventions.
“We are the lawmakers, and the essence of the oversight is to see and know the challenges, so we can make sure that the law is passed,” he stated, emphasising the need to amend existing legislation and introduce appropriate restrictions on foreign-used vehicles where necessary.
The Director-General of NADDC, Otunba Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin, said the visit was particularly significant in the context of the Federal Government’s “Nigeria First Policy.”