NADDC Tours BAW South Africa
WiththelaunchoftheBAWPilotmini bus in Nigeria by BAW Nigeria, less than two months away, a delegation from the apex regulatory agencyinNigeria’sautoindustry, the NationalAutomotive Design and Development Council, NADDC has visited the plant of the technical partners in South Africa. Led by the Director-General, Jelani Aliyu, the NADDC team, early in the week toured the facility of BeijingAuto Works (BAW) SouthAfrica which is collaborating with BAW Nigeria, (a stable mate of Transit Support Services, TSS, andABC Transport), to produce BAW Pilot buses and vans at the latter’s plant in Enugu. During the visit, the delegation held discussions with the management of BAW SouthAfrica, assuring them of NADDC and Nigerian government’s support for their plan to produce their vehicles to the same high standards that contributed BAW brand’s huge success in Mandela’s country. Produced in the Spring area of Gauteng, South Africa as BAW Sasuka, the bus has in the past few years become one of the most visible vehicles in that country’s taxi industry, where buses are used as taxis. The delegation also visited BMW, Nissan, Ford, Volkswagen and Toyota. WithAliyu were the Director, Policy and Planning, Luqman Mamudu; SpecialAdviser to the Minister ofIndustry, TradeandInvestment, EmekaIfezulike; and Special Adviser to the DG, Sani Musa. With Ford and Nissan already producing vehicles in Nigeria, NADDC assured during the visit that it wascommittedtosupportingtheminexponentially increasing their production capacity.