British foreign secretary commends Nigerian start-up for manufacturing electric motorcycles and tricycles

BRITISH foreign secretary James Cleverly has commended Nigerian start-up company Metro Africa Xpress (Max) for its initiative in launching the manufacture of electric motorcycles and tricycles in the country.

Speaking on Lagos after inspecting and testing two and three-wheeler motorcycle and tricycle electric vehicles produced by the company, Mr Cleverly, who is currently in Nigeria, is on a three-country, four-day African tour of three African countries, Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia, said he is impressed with their efforts to produce clean energy.

Mr Cleverly said: “This is Nigerian innovation and ideas but has been unlocked through finance and initial investment through British International Investment (BII). This financing is catalysing Nigerian ideas and unlocking business opportunities for Nigerian drivers and business people.”

According to him, it is fantastic that organisations are bringing together their respective expertise to reduce emissions, reduce cost to drivers, improve air quality in cities and help hand over to the next generation hopefully in a better state than inherited. Mr Cleverly praised Metro Africa Xpress for its initiative.

Metro Africa Xpress Electric Vehicle chief executive and co-founder Tayo Bamiduro, said the economic benefits of shifting from petrol to electric were overwhelming. He noted that users would save as much as 40% in operating costs every month by simply shifting from gas-powered two-wheelers to electric-powered ones.

Mr Bamiduro said: “There is a compelling argument beyond the environmental impact but also the economic impact, so, there’s absolutely no reason not to do the transition to electric vehicles right now. We have been doing this for the past five years, supported and powered extensively by close partners including the UK government and their funded institutions

“These organisations have worked closely with Max to introduce electric-powered two and three-wheeled vehicles into the Nigerian market, all the way from design to manufacturing, production and deployment.  A switch to electric will lead to a reduction in energy cost by at least 50% and in some cases, up to 70%."

He said Max was working with leading energy companies and the government at the state and federal levels to scale up access to charging stations and infrastructure to enable people to make the shift from petrol to electric. Mr Bamiduro noted that to make sure people could make the transition to electric vehicles, his company was building and investing in charging infrastructure.

Benson Adenuga, BII's Nigeria country director, said electric vehicles were one of the indirect investments the organisation had made to support development in the country. BII, owned by the UK government through the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office carries out development investment in Nigeria to assist the growth of the private sector.