Through the Electric Vehicle Transition and Green Mobility Bill, 2025, is still undergoing legislative process in the Senate, the draft law is already being applauded in the automotive sector as having what is needed to guide Nigeria’s drive towards a greener, electrified mobility system.
Since the bill came up for second reading on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, auto industry chieftains have, in their various reactions, commended Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, the senator representing Abia North, for crafting the proposed law, and the Red Chamber for their unreserved support.
The proposed legislation seeks to establish a national framework for the transition to electric vehicles, encourage local manufacturing, and strengthen Nigeria’s commitment to environmental sustainability.
These targets were acknowledged by the auto industry chieftains as capable of lifting the domestic auto industry, if the bill becomes an act and is assiduously implemented.
The auto industry leaders who analysed the proposal included the director-general of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Otunba Joseph Oluwemimo Osanipin; chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Ltd (IVM), Dr. Innocent Chukwuma; and the national coordinator, Automotive Local Content Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (ALCMAN), Chief Anselm Ilekuba.
They observed that the objectives of the bill dovetail into some of the aims of the Auto Policy (Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Programme, NAIDP), which is currently being fine-tuned, preparatory to presentation to the federal lawmakers.
They also noted that Senator Kalu’s initiative is timely because it has come when the global industry is steadily de-emphasizing vehicles powered by internal combustion engines (ICE) and embracing electric vehicles that enhance reduction in carbon emissions.
Commenting on the bill, the NADDC DG commended Sen. Kalu and the upper chamber for recognising the reality that the future of mobility lies in electric vehicle technology.
Speaking to The Sun on Friday, Otunba Osanipin said, “We at the NADDC have said it time and time again that the future of mobility is in electric vehicles, and it is commendable when your legislators see it the way it is.
“And they have also shown that they are aware that we in Nigeria don’t have to sit back and allow the whole world to move far away and leave us behind, only for us to complain later.
“It will not be good to do nothing now and start complaining later. It is always good that whenever we want to take action, we don’t take action based on policy alone, but also back whatever we are doing with law.
“The (Electric Vehicle Transition) bill in the Senate shows that our society is responsible. It shows that our government is responsible. It shows that all of us are responsible, and it is also good to note that the sponsor of this bill, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, is a member of the Senate Committeie on Industry that has oversight on NADDC, and he understands the issues involved.
“”The Senate Committee on Industry is one of the committees where you have many legislators who have held executive positions in their various states. So, Senator Orji Kalu understands what it takes to grow this industry.”
The NADDC DG stated that, though he had not seen the details of the bill, it was clear to him from what he had read so far that it is all about the development of the auto industry, and about “putting in place the necessary infrastructures and the necessary support that are going to drive this industry.”
He drew attention to the fact that many countries have set target dates to end the production and sale of new petrol and diesel cars as part of their efforts to fully embrace electric vehicles and reduce carbon emissions.
Sen. Orji Kalu’s bill, he argued, is necessary to place Nigeria on the same pedestal as other countries that have adopted the trend.
“May I tell you that in some countries like China, for example, they have already set a target (to stop the manufacture and use of petrol and diesel vehicles), and before that deadline, their people are free to register their vehicles just the way you do your licence every year here?
“But, after that time, which I think is in the next eight years or so, you cannot get a licence for your vehicle again, if the vehicle is not EV.”
Like the NADDC helmsman, the chairman of Innoson extolled the senators for promoting the interest of Nigeria’s auto industry with the EV legislation, and for being future-focused.
Chief Chukwuma, who is building a completely new multibillion-naira auto plant in Nnewi, which was conceived to manufacture only EVs and other vehicles that run on compressed natural gas (CNG), suggested that the bill should. be made to also accommodate the deepening of CNG utilisation.
Innoson Chairman
This is because in the considered views of the first indigenous automaker in Africa, apart from Nigeria being abundantly endowed with gas, users of CNG-powered vehicles enjoy tremendous advantages, including cheaper cost per kilometre and considerably low maintenance expenses.
Sen. Kalu’s bill, according to Chief Chukwuma, is in tandem with President Bola Tinubu’s green mobility strategy which seeks to promote widespread adoption of Compressed Natural Gas and electric vehicles in Nigeria.
Similarly applauding the introduction of the bill was Chief Ilekuba who, apart from being the National coordinator of ALCMAN, is also a leading contributor to the efforts to drive the domestic auto industry towards developing electric vehicle technology.
Ilekuba said it was gratifying that the federal lawmakers were backing the efforts of investors like him, whose Cedric Masters Group, assembles JIM-ISUZU – a brand of vehicles in the forefront of electric vehicles production in Nigeria.
The Cedric Masters Group chairman remarked, “Our subsidiary, Cedric Clean Energy Solution, which has an electric charge station assembly plant in Lekki, Lagos State, sees this as a wonderful development and calls for greater stakeholder involvement, especially with NADDC and ALCMAN.
“I commend Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu for this laudable bill, which shows vision and will serve as a cursor to the long-awaited Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Programme.”
When the proposed legislation had its second reading last week, lawmakers overwhelmingly supported it, describing it as a necessary step to diversify the economy and align with global clean energy trends.
Sen. Kalu had informed the Senate that the legislation aims to transform Nigeria’s automotive and energy sectors, foster innovation and create jobs throughout the manufacturing value chain.
Key highlights of the bill include: tax holidays, import duty waivers, toll exemptions, and subsidies for electric vehicle users and investors; and making it mandatory for all fuel stations to install charging points
The bill further requires foreign automakers seeking to sell electric vehicles in Nigeria to partner with licensed local assemblers and establish domestic assembly plants within three years.
It also aims to compel companies to source at least 30 percent of their components locally by 2030, while violations could attract fines of up to N250 million per breach, even as unlicensed importers risk penalties of N500 million and confiscation of goods.
The legislation, which is expected to position Nigeria as a potential hub for electric vehicles production in Africa, would be an incentive to investors who establish charging infrastructure by availing them with government grants and tax credits.
With various developed economies, including European countries, setting targets of between 2030 and 2040 to completely phase out the manufacture and use of fossil-fuel vehicles, the NADDC DG was careful not to be specific on a target for Nigeria.
Rather, in line with the aims of the auto policy, he said, “We are pushing to get to a point that by 2035, the adoption rate of electric vehicles (in Nigeria) will be much higher.”
Both Osanipin and Chukwuma would be happy to see a situation where the Electric Vehicle Transition and Green Mobility Bill, 2025, becomes a legal framework used to obviate a situation in the future where Nigeria would be a dumping ground for petrol and diesel vehicles phased out at the end of other countries’ target dates.
Concerned that not to do this would jeopardise efforts to ensure widespread adoption of electric vehicles in Nigeria, the NADDC DG, said, “We also have to develop and prepare, because, if we are not looking at taking action today, those vehicles they can no longer register in China and other countries, what do you think will happen to them? Your guess is as good as mine.”
He said that the NADDC would be willing to give any kind of support needed to ensure the bill is passed into law and is vigorously implemented.
His pledge, “We are ready to honour their invitation, if they call us to give support. If they have any questions, if they need any information, we are always available. We are happy that our legislature is taking this to the next level.
“It is always good when you have people that are ready to give you legislative backing. We are ready to work with the National Assembly. If they call us for a presentation, we’ll be there. We are ready to work with them.”
