The National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) has commenced a sensitisation campaign on its dealership registration framework, urging motor dealers across the North-West to formally register their businesses or risk enforcement measures.

The Council made the call at a national sensitisation workshop on the NADDC dealership registration portal held in Kaduna on Wednesday, where stakeholders described the initiative as a major step towards formalising the motor dealership subsector, improving transparency and strengthening Nigeria’s automotive value chain.

Representing the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NADDC, Otunba Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin, the Director, Policy, Planning and Statistics, Mr Umar Nura Sidi, said Kaduna was deliberately chosen for the engagement because of its historic importance to Nigeria’s automotive industry.

Sidi, who welcomed participants to Kaduna, described the state as “a very vibrant, historic, and truly accomplished state” that had contributed significantly to the growth of the Nigerian automotive industry.

He said, “Kaduna, as far as the automotive industry is concerned, is a very vibrant, historic, and truly an accomplished state that has contributed a lot to the growth and development of the Nigerian automotive industry.”

He explained that Osanipin could not attend the event physically because he had travelled outside the country for other official engagements, but had prepared a speech for delivery at the workshop.

According to the NADDC Director-General, the dealership registration framework was designed to address longstanding challenges in the motor dealership subsector, including informality, fragmented records, inadequate data, manual processes and limited visibility of legitimate operators.

He said the initiative was “not merely to create another administrative requirement for motor dealers,” but to establish “a credible and transparent framework through which legitimate dealerships can be properly identified, documented, and integrated into the formal automotive ecosystem.”

Osanipin added that a reliable dealership registration system would provide greater visibility of operators, support access to institutional finance and business partnerships, strengthen consumer confidence and provide government with reliable information for policy formulation and industry development.

“A reliable dealership registration system will provide greater visibility of operators within the subsector, support access to institutional finance and business partnerships, strengthen consumer confidence, and provide government with more reliable information for policy formulation, planning, and industry development,” he said.

He noted that the initiative was also consistent with the objectives of the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) 2023–2033, particularly its emphasis on developing a more organised, competitive and data-driven automotive industry.

Osanipin said the North-West was an important market for automotive products because of its commercial activities, agricultural transportation, logistics operations, interstate mobility and growing demand for vehicles.

“It is, therefore, essential that dealerships operating within the region are properly captured within a credible and transparent registration framework,” he said.

He urged motor dealers and other stakeholders to take advantage of the sensitisation exercise by asking questions, seeking clarification and ensuring their businesses were properly captured in the registration framework.

He further assured stakeholders that NADDC recognised the need for regulation to go hand-in-hand with engagement with industry players.

“Our objective is to develop a system that is practical, transparent, efficient, and responsive to the realities of the Nigerian automotive market,” he said.

Also speaking, the National President of the Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDON), Prince Ajibola Adedoyin, described the automotive sector as critical to the Nigerian economy and said motor dealers remained an integral part of the industry’s value chain.

Adedoyin said the association had previously made efforts to regulate the dealership subsector through self-regulation but required stronger government support.

“As Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria, being a critical stakeholder in this sector, value chain, we’re real and integral part of this ladder,” he said.

He commended NADDC for taking up the responsibility of developing a regulatory framework for the subsector, saying the initiative would help address the situation where virtually anyone could enter the business and claim to be a motor dealer.

“We all know how our sector has been bothered in an all-comers’ affair, that anybody from anywhere will just come in and just put one or two cars, and he has become a dealer. And that does not augur well for our sector,” Adedoyin said.

He said proper regulation would give legitimate dealers stronger recognition and enable them to participate more effectively in policymaking.

“By this regulation, I think we should know that we’ll be strong, it will make us to be able to benefit from our businesses the more, and it will make us to be able to participate in the policy formation of the automotive sector,” he said.

Adedoyin urged motor dealers to embrace the registration framework and work collectively towards making the initiative successful.

In his goodwill message, the Chairman of AMDON, North-West Zone, Alhaji Aminu Ibrahim Tankako, told dealers that registration with NADDC should be treated as a requirement rather than an option.

“Part of what is disturbing this business is irregular sector. People come on board, try to sell their products whether they are genuine or not,” Tankako said.

He stressed that proper registration would help address illicit activities and improve accountability within the industry.

“There is no hidden place for a stolen car. There is no hidden place for illicit money. There is no hidden place for unauthorized transactions,” he declared, drawing applause from participants.

Tankako further warned dealers who might disregard the registration exercise that enforcement would follow.

“The new trend now is we must register with NADDC. If not, an enforcement is coming up,” he said.

He urged dealers across the region to return to their respective states and zones and educate other operators about the new registration requirements.

“Regularize this sector, no compromise. This is standing order,” Tankako said, to which the audience responded affirmatively.

He also warned that unregistered operators could face increasing difficulties in conducting automotive business in the future, urging dealers to treat the registration exercise seriously.

The Kaduna sensitisation workshop brought together government representatives, motor dealers and other stakeholders in the automotive sector as NADDC seeks to expand awareness and registration under its digital dealership framework.

The Council said the initiative is expected to improve the identification and documentation of legitimate motor dealerships while strengthening data collection, consumer confidence, access to business opportunities and evidence-based regulation within Nigeria’s automotive industry. (The Sun)

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