Building Nigeria's EV Industry to Cut Fuel Bills and Create Jobs

This week, The Africa EV Show heads to Nigeria, where one company is tackling three of the country's biggest challenges at once: rising fuel costs, urban air pollution, and the urgent need for industrial jobs. Our guest, Dr. Sam Faleye, is the director of Saglev, a company with an ambitious mission to accelerate the shift from internal combustion engines to electric mobility in emerging markets. Saglev isn't just importing electric cars. It's assembling vehicles locally, building charging infrastructure, and developing an end-to-end ecosystem designed especially for ride-hailing fleets, mass mobility, and commercial logistics operators. In a country that spends billions of dollars annually on fuel imports, the stakes are high. Can electric vehicles reduce foreign exchange pressure? Can local assembly build technical skills and strengthen Nigeria's automotive value chain? And how viable is it to depend on Chinese EV technology while trying to build Nigeria's manufacturing capacity? These are some of the questions we're seeking answers to in this conversation, where we'll also explore: The gap in Nigeria's transport and energy ecosystem that Saglev set out to solve Why local assembly matters for cost, jobs, and skills transfer The role of Chinese EV platforms and supply chains in making Nigerian assembly viable The business models — leasing, fleet ownership, partnerships — that are actually working The biggest barriers slowing adoption today And what success for Nigeria's EV industry could look like over the next decade If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and join us next time as we continue exploring how e-mobility is reshaping jobs, industry, and development across the continent. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: X: @ChinaGSProject | @hakeenah Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social FOLLOW CGSP IN FRENCH AND ARABIC: Français: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine Arabic: عربي: www.alsin-alsharqalawsat.com | @SinSharqAwsat JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth