Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, NITT, Zaria, Kaduna State, has set machinery in motion to launch its own model of electric vehicle different from the internal combustion engine-powered ones in the nearest future.
Towards this end, a 22-man project team for the development of the electric vehicle has been inaugurated by the chairman, NITT Governing Council, Olorogun John Inojeharho, in compliance with the directives of the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, when he visited the Institute in 2019.
Inojeharho, according to a statement made available to our correspondent, said that members of the team headed by the Director General of the institute, Dr. Bayero Salih Farah, “were carefully selected based on their pedigree as qualified and savvy engineers.”
He therefore urged them to “work relentlessly towards achieving this feat to justify the confidence reposed in you and put NITT on the world map as an organisation which has converted fuel vehicles to electric vehicles.”
The chairman asserted that the watchword for the team is “performance, performance, performance.”
Inojeharho listed the terms of reference for the team to include, development of the blueprint that will guide the evolution of the NITT model of electric vehicle; evolve the technology/design framework of the NITT model of electric vehicle and develop a prototype of the electric vehicle.
Others are to promote the NITT model of electric vehicle in the Nigerian automobile industry;
determine the budgetary allocation to support the new project; identify capacity development requirements for the sustenance of the new project, and to establish the necessity or technical support or partnership with other institutions or research bodies.
Responding, the chairman and project team manager, Dr. Bayero Farah, thanked the Governing Council for finding him and his team worthy to carry out such a critical project, stressing that it was “timely and imperative”.
“This is historical and forms part of what the Institute’s legacies will be to the Nigerian nation and humanity in general,” he said.
Farah, who acknowledged the enormity of the task ahead, noted that it would require a lot of support from the Council as well as the government in terms of resources and technical know-how.
He, however, assured the chairman that the team members are “going to put in all our efforts, and do our best to achieve this mandate.”
Other members of the team are the Director, TTC, Engr. Elkanah Ngbale; Director, Transport School, Dr. (Mrs.) Felicia Nwanosike; Director, ICT, Library and Information Services, Dr. Ibrahim Baba Mundi, and other staff as technical members.
