I was at Ikeja City Mall just yesterday when on my way out I noticed 2 sleek and shiny black vehicles parked towards one of the exits of the mall. Needless to say I decided to take a look and I was not disappointed.

To my left was the sleek looking Honda Accord Sedan. I figured what the model year was but just to be sure I went ahead to peek at that little space between the bonnet and the windscreen on the drivers side. I know I could have checked the booklet just in front of the display area to see the full specs and especially the model year, but after scanning the pages and not finding what I needed I decided to put my knowledge of Autos into practice.

I found what I was looking for, the 17 digit long VIN (Vehicle Identification Number). I instantly recalled when I had my 6 month industrial training in an auto-workshop and on my first day, my Indian manager told me I had to memorize the name/brand of every car I worked on (ok, that was not too hard), then he mentioned the Plate number and then the impossible; he told me I need to know the VIN as well. Sadly, I had never been good with memorizing numbers but that's a story for another day.

Back to the present.

VINs are a combination of numbers and alphabets so I counted from the left to the 10th character which identifies the Model Year of the vehicle. This particular one read 'F' and I did a quick mental calculation.... ok that's a lie.
I actually counted off on my fingers, A - B - C - D - E - F, and confirmed that the Honda Accord sedan was a 2016 Model year. No big surprise but it was still the first time I had one up close.

The man on duty at the exhibit quickly gave me a download of the specs and then I entered into the front seat to experience the feel myself. Of-course, driving it is the true experience but no one was going to allow me do that.

Everything looked as good as promised, from the touch screen which would have measured a full 7-inches with smart gestures just like on a smartphone: the zooming, swiping and what more to the standard blue tooth and finally to the android & apple enabled car play.

I had to take a look at the boot and it was quite roomy with the option of folding the rear seat forward to accommodate longer items.

There was a lot more to look at and if you are looking for a review here is not the best place to find one.

The major reason for including this story here for Nairalanders is in this concluding piece.

Once I was about to take my leave of the exhibition area, the man on duty mentioned one important thing that really excited me and thus inspired this story.
He mentioned that these vehicles, indicating both the Accord and CR-V SUV on the other side were both assembled in Nigeria.

Yes!! Assembled in Nigeria!!

I did a double check on the car exterior and interior looking out for the bad finishing quality that has been said to go with Nigerian workmanship, but I was happy to find none. It looked as good as any other car assembled abroad, Japanese or American spec.
I know the driving, engine and life of the vehicles is another thing entirely but what I saw was cause to be happy.

Clearly, the Made in Nigerian dream is becoming a reality and it was right there before my eyes. I was told these vehicles were assembled in Ogun state by a major car dealer. I smiled to my friend who was with me and took my leave.

I knew I had to share this with Nairalanders. See what the 2016 accord looks like (Sadly I dint take these photos myself, but I will be sure to take photos of the next Nigerian Assembled vehicles I come across)

Cheers!!

Our country Nigeria is not particularly popular for the manufacture or production of the goods we consume, not to even speak of exporting them. The height of it all was when I discovered that we also import tooth picks. Clearly no First World Nation or prosperous country got to that level by depending on & consuming majorly imported or foreign goods. You would think that all the Rice we eat (which is one of the most consumed staple in Nigeria) was grown here in the country, Sadly this is not the case. However we believe things are changing.

At a time, vehicles accounted for the 2nd most imported goods based on value, we import vehicles of all kinds into the country, both brand new and Tokunbo cars, by both private individuals and government institutions. However this is changing for the better.

I have recently discovered some developments and initiatives in the automotive industry that is worth being shared and discussed.

The National Automotive Design & Development Agency better known as NADDC has been very busy these past few years as they aim towards reviving the Nigerian Automotive Industry.
One of the many ways they are doing this is by facilitating the establishment of Auto assembly plants within the country. The idea is to have existing Original Equipment manufacturers like Toyota, Honda, Nissan etc establish their assembly plants here in Nigeria, so that the vehicles can be assembled here where they are needed. You can check out the NADDC facebook page https://www.facebook.com/naddc12/?fref=ts where they continuously post information about this initiative.

There are many benefits that Nigerians will derive from this initiatives, one of which is that brand new cars will not be as expensive as they have always been. But more importantly, this does a lot for our economy as a nation, talking about the employment generation, transfer of technology because Nigerians will actually be the ones involved in the assembly of these vehicles while the Original Equipment Manufacturers remain to ensure that we keep to the world class standards & excellence of vehicle production.

Enough being said, I believe a picture is worth even more than a thousand words. I am sure I am not the only one who has heard about this recent developments or seen the actual products on our Nigerian roads and not just in the news. As promised, here are some photos of vehicles that were actually assembled in Nigeria. We are yet to reach the point of producing all the vehicle parts from scratch (actually no nation does that), the truth is, we must learn to walk before we run.

Do you think this initiative will be ultimately successful? There maybe some challenges along the way, but I believe that success is not impossible.

Check out the website to see the progress that has been made http://madeinnigeria.org/