Japan Motors Trading Company Limited (JMTC) has fulfilled its pledge by donating the first locally assembled Nissan Pickup to the College of Engineering of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Nissan recently opened a vehicle assembly plant in Ghana with its longtime partner, Japan Motors Trading Company Ltd. appointed as its local partner in the all new vehicle assembly facility in Tema, Ghana.

Japan Motors as part of its corporate social responsibility pledged to donate the first locally assembled Nissan Pickup to the College of Engineering of the KNUST in a bid to resource the school in its mandate of producing the needed human resources for the automobile industry.

Top Management of JMTC including Nouhad Kalmoni, Executive Director; Abdul-Somad Alhassan Musah, Assistant MD; Abdul-Monem METWALY, Kumasi Branch Manager and Harriet Esi Mensah, Marketing Manager were present at the College last Thursday to fulfil the pledge.

In his presentational remarks, Mr. Nouhad Kalmoni was upbeat the development of the new automobile plant in Ghana provides the opportunity for students in the country who pursue Engineering/automobile courses to develop their skills adequately whenever they come for internship programs at Japan Motors.

He said the donation of the first locally assembled Nissan pickup to the College of Engineering, KNUST was appropriate since the College is one of the best in the sub-region that produces the targeted human resources needed for the automobile industry.

Mr. Kalmoni observed an already existing partnership/relationship between Japan Motors and KNUST as the company gets a lot of students from the College of Engineering for their National Service as such he was optimistic that with the new development in the automobile industry, most of the products of the College will one day take key leadership positions in JMTC’s new local Nissan assembling Plant.

On his part, Mr. Abdul-Somad Alhassan Musah, Assistant MD JMTC said the company’s interest is to develop the automobile industry and “as we have been appointed by Nissan to assemble locally the Nissan vehicles we need the adequate human resources for the plant.

"KNUST, as we are all aware, is the Pioneer Engineering University in Ghana that produces a lot of these human resources as such the need to partner them to drive the course.

"We expect them to tailor their programs and courses towards this new development in Ghana’s automobile industry so together we can develop the industry."

Prof. (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson, Vice-Chancellor of KNUST who received the vehicle on behalf of the School commended Japan Motors for the gesture and most especially for realizing the dream of localizing the assembling of Nissan vehicles.

“It is a wonderful thing and as an institution, we share in this success story with you and hope that In terms of training and research and in any other things as far as the automobile industry is concerned you will count us in”.

Prof. Akosua Dickson assured that as a commitment to its mandate it will continue to collaborate and partner with key industrial players such as Japan Motors as it imbibe in their students 21^st Century skills that will make them employable.

The Provost, College of Engineering, KNUST, Prof. Mark Adom-Asamoah who was also present noted that the College has for decades been at the forefront of developing the needed human resources in various engineering disciplines for the development of Ghana and other African nations.

He informed that the College strategic plan (2016-2025) foresees great prospect in forging win-win partnerships with key stakeholders such as Japan Motors and hoped the donation will deepen the partnership and mark a new and deeper collaboration, particularly with the Automobile Engineering and Mechanical Engineering programmes.