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Nigeria’s quest to
become an automobile manufacturing country may be realised in the next
28 months, the project manager of the Skill Acquisition Centre for
Internal Combustion Engine Parts Manufacture, Akaehomen Ibhadode, has
said.

Mr Ibhadode, a
world-renowned professor of manufacturing engineering, who spoke
yesterday at the launch of the centre at the University of Benin
(UNIBEN), said the World Bank-sponsored project, tagged Step-B, will be
equipped with state-of-the-art research and production facilities to
aid research and learning by staff and students of higher institutions
in Nigeria.

The centre will also engage in the production of all components of diesel and petrol automobile engines.

An initiative of
the federal government, Step-B is expected to support the development
and growth of the science and technology industry and contribute to
national development.

Mr Ibhadode, who is
the 2010 laureate of the Nigeria prize for science, said the essence of
the project is to empower local automobile manufacturers and to provide
industrial training for engineering students as well as to generate
funds. The centre, which is working in collaboration with National
Automotive Council, Star Automotive Industries, Lagos, and the
University of Greenwich, United Kingdom, will become fully operational
within the next 28 months.

Turning point

According to the
national project coordinator of Step-B, Michael Adikwu, the project is
aimed at producing better qualified students and researches, which he
said will impact positively on the economic growth of the nation as
defined by the millennium development goals.

Fidelis Achiv, who
represented the director-general of the National Automotive Council,
Aminu Jabal, said the project will ensure that students are trained in
the use of modern equipment and help to determine the engineering
competence of Nigerian students, as well as provide needed spare parts
for the automotive industry.

The vice-chancellor
of UNIBEN, Osayuki Oshodin, who was represented by the deputy vice-
chancellor (academics) of the university, Emmanuel Onibere, described
the occasion as a “milestone achievement by the university, considering
the numerous hiccups that threatened the initial take-off of the
project”.

He said the project
is devoted to skill acquisition in engine parts manufacture, which he
said is a vital component of the nation’s quest to address the problem
of transportation and power generation.

“This indeed will be a turning point in Nigeria’s march toward real industrialisation,” he said.