Raising Auto Mechanics for the Future

John Shiklam writes on the multi-million naira empowerment programme by Peugeot Automobile Nigeria for the training of auto mechanics and standardisation of workshops to address the challenges of repairing high tech vehicles

Foremost automobile company in Nigeria, Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) Limited, Kaduna, has established a multi-million naira youths empowerment programme aimed at providing formalised operating structure in the loose and unregulated auto mechanics business across the country. Tagged ‘Shade Tree Youth Empowerment Initiative’ (STYEl), about N36.7 million is to be spent in the training and development of youths in the automotive maintenance and repairs.

The programme is expected to train a generation of auto mechanics that will understand the workings of high tech vehicles of today in order to be able to handle repairs and servicing. The initiative is a welcome development considering the technological advancement in the auto industry and the low quality of auto mechanics that operate across many cities and towns in Nigeria.

Majority of these auto mechanics are largely without basic technical knowledge and rarely understand the workings of today's high-tech vehicles. Besides, they operate without requisite tools and in many cases they diagnose faults in vehicles, largely by trial and error to identify the problem.

In the 1960s and early 1980s, corporate organisations like UTC, Challarams, Mandillas, SCOA, FIAT and others, operated standardised mechanic workshops, manned by trained technical personnel who offered efficient repairs and servicing of vehicles.

The decline of these standardised auto mechanics gave rise to the emergence of roadside mechanics, most of who have no adequate technical training to handle modern cars. This has raised serious concerns among Nigerians about the ability of the present crop of mechanics to handle the repairs of these new technologies. This is part of the scenario that prompted the establishment of STYEI by PAN. Speaking at the launching of the programme at the premises of the company in Kaduna, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Alhaji Ibrahim Boyi, noted that the automotive sector, like many other industries, has witnessed technological innovations and disruptions.

He noted that, automobiles of today are composed of mechatronics, a combination of mechanical and electronic components,