Kadpoly, NADDC to produce solar-powered tricycles

The Rector, Kaduna Polytechnic, Prof. Idris Muhammad-Bugaje, on Thursday, said the institution in partnership with National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) would soon commence the production of solar-powered tricycles.

The rector made this known to newsmen shortly after the management’s courtesy call and partnership meeting with NADDC.

Muhammad-Bugaje, was represented at the meeting by the Director, College of Engineering, Dr Mohammed Abdullahi.

He said that the institution had the capacity to produce tricycles under the recently-established Centre for Technology Development which would manage the production of the tricycles when fully funded.

“Our main cooperation is with the automotive design, solar tricycle design, renewable energy and embedded technology, ‘’ the rector said.

A Board member of NADDC, Mr Samuel Bagudu, while welcoming the management of the polytechnic, said there was no reason for Nigeria to continue importing tricycles when there were good engineers in the country.

Bagudu said that Nigeria had enough manpower to produce the various parts of a tricycle locally with a better quality than the imported ones.

“Nigeria has become a dumping ground for all manner of substandard vehicles, while our industries are dying through the importation of the entire components of tricycle.

“That is why we are working to improvise the trend, ‘’ he said.

Bagudu urged the polytechnic management to establish a full-blown Automobile Engineering Department, out of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the school, with a view to have more youths in the automobile industry.

He commended the institution for maintaining the equipment given by the NADDC, with a promise to render more assistance to improve automotive engineering and design.