President, Board of Trustees, Automobiles And Road Safety Initiative, Samuel Oriowo speaks to the media during the press conference
By Anthony Maliki
Determined to ensure safer roads and encourage quality of auto products, the Automobiles And Road Safety Initiative is to hold its 2nd Nigeria Annual Automotive Industry Award to promote best practices.
The President, Board of Trustees, Automobiles And Road Safety Initiative, Samuel Oloyede Oriowo made this known on Monday in Lagos at a press conference to herald the 2nd edition of the award.
He said the award is to induce standard work ethics and discourage production and marketing of fake automotive lubricants, parts and allied products that is seriously adversely distressing the industry and the nation’s economy.
The Nigeria Automotive Industry Award is established to recognize enterprise, encourage creativity and to reward excellence among key players in the motoring industry in Nigeria.
According to him, the award would take place at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria on Monday 27th November, 2023 and has as theme: ‘Celebrating the best & brightest of the Nigeria Automotive Industry.’
He explained that during this year’s Award, the categories has been enlarged and several sectors of the industry has been considered appropriate for honour.
Oriowo noted that list of those to be recognized at the award would not be made known now.
The 1st edition of the award took place on December, 14, 2022 during which Toyota Motors, JAC Motors, CFAO Motors & its Isuzu automobile, NNPC Retails Limited as well as Mobil Oil and the then Oando Oleun Oil were honoured with various awards.
The president also said the organization expressed worry over the aging percentage of the current automobile repair/maintenance technicians in the country that are not adequately equipped, education-wise to embrace and acquire requisite latest automotive technology and developments to be properly fit to function as repairers of modern day automobiles that nowadays come with sophisticated brain boxes.
According to him, it is in this regard that led the Board of Trustees of Automobiles And Road Safety Initiative to establish the West Africa Automotive Institute which infrastructure was launched last year during the 1st Nigeria Annual Automotive Industry Award.
He pointed out that there is no doubt that the universities and polytechnics are doing so much to train engineering graduates to manage technical challenges at the workshops, the Institute is established to address the obvious gaps therein and to train and re-train younger people from the communities and colleges on the best and most authoritative technics of automobile maintenance.
Oriowo noted that the Institute is a novel idea that will elevate knowledge and practice and create young people who will drive safe driving and durable motor car initiative with emerging technology from vehicle manufacturing plants to the mechanic workshops.
The president noted the organization is looking up to the federal, state and the local governments, companies and kind hearted individuals for donations and sponsorships to drive the process to fully make the institute functional in the effective training of technicians for the automobile market on various areas of automobile mechanics.
These areas, he said include motor vehicle maintenance technics, auto electrical technics, global fabrication, electronic parts identity codes, internet communications in automobile engineering, design, safety practices and budget management at the various vehicle workshops in the country and beyond.
Looking back at the formation period of the organization, Oriowo said it has achieved some of its objectives despite the difficult beginnings.
“The Objective of our NGO striving for: ‘Reduction of road accidents through campaigns, seminars and workshops for stakeholders in the Nigeria Automotive Sector’ has been achieved; in the sense that we have been able to positively impact on the practitioners in the automotive repair/ maintenance sector to carry out their duties/trades in the most ethical ways to eliminate accidents that occurred on the roads, but which could be traceable to shoddy repair/maintenance sessions in the workshops,” he said.
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