SMEDAN has granted the request of the National Automotive Council, (NAC) to approve the use of part of her IDC land in Zaria to site an automotive test centre. To this end, a formal MOU would be signed by the two Federal Government-owned Agencies.

Speaking in a joint meeting between SMEDAN and NAC delegates, the Director-General of NAC, Engineer Aminu Jalal said, the request was in line with part of the Council’s mandate to ensure that vehicles confirm to safety and environmental standards.  The Centre would be made up of material and vehicle evaluation laboratory and an Office block.

SMEDAN's DG, Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar, said the Council’s request was a welcome idea. According to him, ever since the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry handed IDCs over to SMEDAN, on

13th of October, 2010, he had always wished they (IDCs) developed in the line of clusters economically, technologically and otherwise. “We will do better when placed together with other sectors.  The location of an automotive test centre, near SMEDAN, will go a long way in developing MSMEs. When you talk of MSME development, you talk of innovation, and innovation is brought about by technology”.  

It was also agreed that SMEDAN team visit the Zaria IDC with an Architect, who would come out with a layout of the NAC centre inside of the SMEDAN IDC. The aim of the visit would be to know how NAC could comfortably fit in there. The NAC Director-General wanted the visit to come up as soon as possible, so that their Board of Directors could approve the Contract for the building before they dissolve in May 2011. The visit was then scheduled to take place on the 5th of April, 2011.

At this juncture, the DG suggested that a Joint Committee (of SMEDAN & NAC) be formed after the visit, to draft a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in this regard.   

The Director-General of NAC was accompanied by the Council’s Director of Infrastructure, Engineer W.K. Odeforo.