By Theodore Opara
TO further align with the vision of the Federal Government’s automotive policy, the Group Executive Director of Lanre Shittu Motors, Mr. Taiwo Shittu has disclosed that part of the company’s plans is to use a section of their upcoming assembly plant along Lagos-Ibadan expressway to develop the manufacture of automotive components like tyres, batteries and other allied products as well as train more Nigerians youths.
The executive director explained that they have placed renewed and very sustainable emphasis on empowerment. “In the past nine years, we are expanding on this and every year, the company trains and employs about 40 Nigerians as a way of giving back to the country in the form of corporate social responsibility, CSR.
He said prior to the recruitment of these set of staff who are majorly unskilled but have passion to develop themselves as some of them are university graduates, secondary and primary school leavers, we send them to our training schoos in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
“Upon graduation, they are employed and paid salaries. But while on training at LSM for a period of one to three years they are placed on salary structures ranging from N15,000, N20,000, to N30,000 and upwards of N70,000 based on performance evaluation metrics conducted from time to time.
“After four years these skill sets are seconded to work with LSMs existing customers workshops, other automobile dealer workshops or corporate fleet clients with large fleets based on a negotiated pay package including their accommodation if they are going to other parts of the country between LSM which is the skill set providers and the beneficiary clients that are the end users.
“The advantage of this, is that the technicians must have gone through the culture and basic rudiments of auto preventive maintenance. What this means is that we are taking the youths in our society out of the streets. Those who were hitherto quacks, are being transformed into qualified technicians at the end of the day.
”At the end of the day, they end up being our ambassadors in the various companies where they are posted to work, and from time to time, we monitor their progress and they can refer back to us whenever the need arises. Because they are with us, they have full access to our online systems that is linked to our JAC partners in China whenever there is need for that”.