The first locally assembled electric car has been unveiled by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in Lagos on Friday.
Governor Sanwo-Olu who commended Stallion Group for believing in the Lagos and Nigeria dream, also hailed the company for revamping the moribund VON asset located along Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
He said: “This is one of the major industrial hubs of this nation. This is one of the major employers of labour in this country. I commend Stallion Group for revamping the asset that was going moribund.
“I want to assure you that the Lagos-Badagry Expressway would be completed. The road was just a two-lane way, but the government has turned it into 10 lanes, five on both sides.
“We are doing a complete rebuild of the road, with bridges and interchanges. We are building a road that will last for 30 to 40years for you. And because we know that this is an international gateway, it does not deserve anything less. We are building a first-class road infrastructure that all of you would be proud of.”
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Speaking on the Hyundai Kona car, Governor Sanwo-Olu said with the unveiling of the car, Nigerians can now drive electric cars, noting that Lagos remains the hub for the nation’s economy and a pacesetter in industrialisation.
The Hyundai Kona car is 100 per cent electric and comes with zero emission, 482km driving range and can be charged both at home and workplace.
He said: “We are not just launching Hyundai Kona, Nigeria’s first electric car assembled in Lagos, we are indeed empowering and creating youth employment. We are also creating opportunity for teeming youths of this nation.
“The future that we see is the future of technology and this is the technology that we are talking about. This is 21st Century technology that has been brought into our country. With hardcore manufacturing companies like Stallion Group Automobile, we can begin to see the need to disemphasise mono product, which is oil.
“With the innovation of Hyundai Kona, we do not need to put the pressure on what the pump price of oil is again. All the issues and fights that we are having about prices of petroleum going up and the rest of it will be a thing of the past. This is a way to go and it is the future that we are seeing now.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu while stressing his administration’s commitment to growth of businesses in the State, said Lagos State Government will partner with Stallion Group Automobile as well as private industries in the State and create an enabling environment for them to do well, so that they can create job opportunities for the youths.
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He also assured that Lagos State Government would be partnering through Ibile Oil and Gas and other private organisations to create different charging points in Lagos, so that people will have opportunity of where they will charge the electric cars.
He said: “This is the first electric car that we are seeing and we as the government need to partner with them. We need to create an enabling environment for them to do well, so that they can employ a lot more youths and create more jobs and pay our youths a lot more money, knowing fully well that the future belongs to you and the future is here.
“And so the state government, working with Ibile Oil and Gas will be creating different charging points in the city, so that people will have an opportunity of where to charge the cars.
“For us we see a renewed hope, for us we see a tomorrow coming today, for us we see and believe in the Stallion dream.”
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of the Stallion Group Automobile, Mr. Rohtagi Manish, said the innovation toward building Nigeria’s first electric car was a step towards an eco-friendly green Lagos.
Manish said that the materials used to assemble Nigeria’s First 100 per cent electric zero emission car was mostly sourced from local resources.
The Vehicle, when fully charged for 9hrs, 35mins could go a distance of 482km (a distance of Lagos to Warri), before it requires another charge.
Governor Sanwo-Olu also took time to tour the premises of Stallion Group Automobile to see the various innovative work and assembling of various brands of vehicles by the company.
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Speaking at the unveiling of Hyundai Kona, Nigeria’s first locally assembled electric car in Nigeria at Ojo in Lagos State on Friday, Governor Sanwo said the Lagos-Badagry Expressway when completed will last for about 30 to 40 years.
Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu however seized the opportunity to assure Lagosians that the State Government would complete the ongoing construction of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
He said his government is committed to the construction of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, saying that the delay of work on the road was based on the government’s plan to build a first-class infrastructure that people would be proud of when completed.
Tobiloba Kolawole
