Nigeria partners Japanese government to recycle junked cars

Nigeria's National Automotive Council (NAC) is collaborating with the Japanese government to set up a pilot automobile recycling plant in Abuja, says its Director-General, Aminu Jalal.

Some junked cars

Jalal said the proposed plant would rid the country of abandoned vehicles and those junked after being involved in accidents which were a nuisance on the roads and public places.
He added that the pilot plant would also serve as a training centre on automobile recycling for staff of the council and other relevant government agencies.
"We are working with Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (of Abuja) to set up a pilot recycling centre here in Abuja. At the centre, end-of-life vehicles recovered from the roadside, police stations and auto workshops will be dismantled and segregated for re-use," he said.
"JICA has already paid for the feasibility study of the pilot plant. What delayed the project was obtaining land from the FCTA but we have now got the land."
Jalal said that officials of some of the relevant government agencies were trained by the Japanese government in 2013 on different aspects of auto recycling and legislation.
He said that the NAC, the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) had benefitted from the training.
According to him, the NAC would soon meet with other agencies to work out a Bill which would empower them to mop up end-of-life vehicles from the streets for recycling at the plant.
"We need a law to empower the authorities to take away accident and abandoned vehicles on roadsides, police and mechanic workshops or vehicles that do not meet the road-worthiness certification. We hope to assemble officers of the agencies that benefitted from the training and work out the Bill," he said.
"Some states, such as Abuja and Lagos, have already produced a law on that but it is good to have a national law that will empower the Federal Government agencies to take abandoned vehicles to the recycling plant.