Everything about "Marketing Service" cannot be effectively practiced. Only about 15% of both company and individuals actually believed in standard, all others including the Highest buyer of vehicles in Nigeria (Government) don't care about selling genuine service. 85% of the total value of vehicles, closely totaling N60t is under threat of collapse. And the worst hit are the new trucks.

1. The Challenges Of
Automobile Maintenance
In Nigeria.
Femi Esan
MBA, MTM
1

2. A Shocking Short Story!
I attended a presentation of the Automobile
Group of the Lagos Chamber Of Commerce in
November 2012. The presentation was rich and
coming from a Nigerian Professor residence in the
United State. When it was the time for closing
remarks, I was the last person to speak and I
dropped the bombshell... In my remark, I observed
that:
“New Vehicles sold to Nigeria Market from
October 2010 has no standard engine oil in
Nigeria to service them. That was in November
2012”
As at the time that I am reviewing this slide (May 2017) Nigeria had not
upgraded its engine oil usage against backward grading. This is a
typical “Costly Maintenance Violation”
2

3. Overview Vehicle
Population Value In Naira!
Hypostatistically, there are N72 Trillion worth of
vehicles in Nigeria all fell into the following
categories:
 Passenger Vehicles
 Haulage/Goods Only Vehicles
 Military/Security Vehicles
 Private Security Vehicles
3

4. Overview Of The Violation Of
Vehicle Maintenance Standard
Nigeria Popular Brand Figures % % %
Index Years @ 2 Standard Maintenance Maintenance
From To Maintenance Violation Favoured
2007 2009 29% 71% Roadsides 68%
2009 2011 25% 75% Roadsides 71%
2011 2013 22% 78% Roadsides 68%
2013 2015 18% 82% Roadsides 70%
4

5. The Challenges Of
Automobile Maintenance
In Nigeria.
Standard Maintenance had eluded the vehicle users in Nigeria with the
advent of Non Dealership Parts Supply participation, the ever
increasing cheap and readily available Roadside Operations.
Both have no standards and are very cheap. However, many lives had
been lost due to this phenomenon.
If in a hypothetical consideration, one is bound to clearly state that:
The causes of the standard maintenance violation are: Government
Policy,
Energy Crisis (NEPA)
Suppliers,
Economic or Recession,
Competitions &
Uncontrollable Business Environment.
5

6. 1. The causes of the standard maintenance violation are:
 Government Policy,
 Energy Crisis (NEPA)
 Suppliers,
 Economic or Recession,
 Competitions &
 Uncontrollable Business Environment.
2. The causes of the standard maintenance violation are more than
expressed in 1. above:
 Concept and Perception of Maintenance (Engineering Processes &
Maintenance Procedures)
 Manpower and Skill Development, (Recruitment, Product Knowledge
and Skill Development Programs)
 Spare Parts and Maintenance Materials (Quality and Sources of Parts and
Materials) &
 Customer Service Delivery (evaluation and appraisal).
Hypothesis
6

7. Yes, hypothesis 1. may be true. But if all these become non-challenging,
other untracked factors that actually hinder maintenance are hidden
from the majority of the Nigerians.
This article is the perception of the challenges from the actual care
takers’ view.
It is crucial and important to correct the factors within, before thinking
of the Government and Nigerian environmental factors.
Everything on this article is written from the perception of the
Aftersales Activities of Vehicle Maintenance and it is not from the
general view.
Abstract
7

8. A brief history of automobile in Nigeria indicated that the earlier users of
automobile in Nigeria enjoy the use of their vehicles due to full aftersales
support of brands in the country by the distributors or the dealers as the
case may be. The post war era recorded massive closure of certain brands
from Nigeria and the economic policies of the eighties finally nailed the
coffin of good maintenance. Through the seventies, Nigerians enjoyed
the provisions of good parts and materials for maintenance, good
training to develop skill and the European standard processes in vehicle
maintenance.
But the structural adjustment program brought about total
consolidation of operations with much attention to Sales rather than
Aftersales. All adjourning operational standard disappeared.
Companies started to manage and remove various developmental
factors from their operations. Here comes the maintenance
violations.
Antecedents
8

9. In the attempt to draw points on the challenges of automobile
maintenance in Nigeria, I listed the following four major factors, these
are:
Concept and Perception of Maintenance (Engineering Processes &
Maintenance Procedures)
Manpower and Skill Development, (Recruitment, Product Knowledge
and Skill Development Programs)
Spare Parts and Maintenance Materials (Quality and Sources of Parts
and Materials) &
Customer Service Delivery (evaluation and appraisal).
Where are we on these points? As
we speak, only about 13% of the vehicle purchased newly ended up with
dealerships, about 74% ended up with roadside and service stations
while 13% are attended to by internal staff of companies.
The Repercussion Of Negligence
9

10. Concept and Perception of Maintenance (Engineering
Processes & Maintenance Procedures).
As it is, not more than 50% of the dealerships understands the
maintenance procedures and strictly monitor and supervise the delivery to
their respective customers. These leave just about 13% of the entire new
vehicles to good maintenance exposure and 87% to uncertainty in
standard maintenance. This is a bitter fact. What is the concept as related
to service demands?
What is the missing concept ?
Every manufacturer of automobiles has a peculiar maintenance pattern that
differs to others but share common procedures. For instance, there are two
recognized condition under which the vehicles are been run, these are Normal
and Severe conditions. The user pattern and parts usage timing are also
similar, but the engine and transmission service duration differs as per brand
design. All these complex differences give rise to the determination of service
procedures and processes for a particular brand. Peugeot maintenance
schedule is different to that of Honda.
10

11. The perception of service outside dealership is “Every vehicle can be
service under the same schedule” IT IS ABSOLUTELY WRONG. Moreover,
to majority of people, maintenance service simply means changing of oil
and oil filter and any other checks are done when complaints arises. That
is precisely the killer dose for the vehicles and 87% of Nigerian vehicles
are given this dosage. Perception and actual interpretations of
maintenance is a big problem and a major challenge in Nigeria.
Concept and Perception of Maintenance
(Engineering Processes & Maintenance
Procedures)
Non Compliance To Standard Concept Is A Violation Of
Maintenance Concept.
11

12. Manpower and Skill Development, (Recruitment, Product
Knowledge and Skill Development Programs).
In the early sixties through the seventies, Nigerians enjoyed the provisions
of good parts and materials for maintenance, good training to develop
skill and the European standard processes in vehicle maintenance. Brand
distributors as a policy maintained Training Centers for generating skills
and mostly as a takeover measure for departing staff.
The first crippling effect came immediately after the war, 65% of brands
disappeared from Nigeria Market, all gone with closure of training schools.
From 1970 to 1983 the remaining brands Training Centers were still being
run boosting manpower and skill in the automobile industry in Nigeria.
By the year 1982 the government economic policy forecloses more brands
and more Training Centers were also closed. At this point most of the
Technical Colleges became the prime sources of skill generation and
absolutely not for skill development, every technical college was then
practicing vocational training and was suitable for industrial staff induction
program.
12

13. By 1994, all brand training Centers for skill generation no longer exist. And
by 1999 the government policy moved the trade and vocational Centers to
purely technical colleges practicing entrant programs to higher tertiary
institutions with the establishment of NABTE (National Board for Technical
Education).
That was the final blow that destroyed the vocational skill generation in
Nigeria. This is also a Major challenge to vehicle maintenance in Nigeria.
Take over planning is quite difficult; getting induction materials is very
difficult.
If all challenges are resolved without the human capital challenge being
continuously resolved, the outcome will be a loss to productivity,
performance and maintenance standard in Nigeria.
Manpower and Skill Development, (Recruitment, Product
Knowledge and Skill Development Programs). 13

14. Spare Parts and Maintenance Materials (Quality and Sources of
Parts / Materials).
For an effective maintenance, the Spare Parts played a crucial role.
Especially when it comes to timing, pricing and quality of maintenance. As
it is today, many vehicles are placed under RPP (Repairs Pending Parts).
Not only is that, the sources of parts very unreliable. The table below will
convince you.
Supply Trains Sources Classification Risk Factor Patronage Recognition
Genuine Dealers 1 Genuine
Low but
available
18
Dealership
Dealings
Roadside
Suppliers
5 Uncertain High 42
Recognition
Unavailable
Tokunbo Market 1 Used Parts High 40
Recognition
Available
Stolen Vehicles 1 Used Parts Very high Unknown
Between Tokunbo
Market
Gross Supply 8 100 Very
14

15. Let me simply interpret the table for your understanding.
 The Roadside Parts Suppliers get parts from five sources – two from parts
suppliers for the motor manufacturers, but the parts either failed the
random test and are condemned or did not go through the random test
at all. The other three sources are low quality ordered parts.
 The Tokunbo & Stolen Vehicle Parts – These are two and same market
sources, very unverifiable and not necessarily means good parts. The next
user time of use is not verifiable.
 Genuine Motor Dealerships – These are the only people that deal in
genuine and warranted parts.
Spare Parts and Maintenance Materials (Quality and Sources of
Parts / Materials).
15

16. So, you may ask what the Standard Organization is doing to help these
multi-billion Naira investments. Your guess is as good as mine. But it is
certain that Nigeria is losing billions in terms of sub-standard vehicle
supplies, loss vehicle usage and 82% non-predictable parts supplies.
This is the environmental situation that the nation is running its vehicle
transportation policy. Just put the brake parts, steering and vehicle ability
to roll on rough roads into your perception of fake parts usage? Try to
check the rate of trailer accidents; these are practical facts on the topic.
Article was cullied from the AutoQuint Serial – October 2012.
Spare Parts and Maintenance Materials (Quality and Sources of
Parts / Materials).
16

17. Customer Service Delivery (evaluation and
appraisal).
It is arguable to say that customer service delivery is not a challenge.
But who do we service? What did they know about our services? Did
they understand the concept? Are they satisfied with our services?
Did they know why we are having challenges? What are they doing
with the roadside mechanics?
These are the reasons for factoring the facts as part of the
challenges. Most of the partakers do not consider frequent appraisal
and evaluation of our customer activities that will lead to wastages
and seek satisfaction index on our job to know what the customers
need.
17

18. It is also amazing to know that there are
solutions nearby to all these challenges,
yet, the solution seems elusive!
Simply because of the ignorance of government and
its controlling agencies…
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19. 19
Thank You !!!