Few weeks after Volkswagen Automobile group, reopened its factory on the Badagry Expressway, Lagos, the Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI); Mr. Muda Yusuf, has lauded the move by the German automaker saying that it shows there are huge opportunities in the Nigerian economy.
In an interview with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, he said that the development is an indication that the Nigerian economy still attracts high profile Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).
Explaining further, he expressed believed that the move will send a serious signal to other investors of the huge potentials that abound in the Nigerian economy especially the automobile sector.
Yusuf also said that the move will also attract a huge foreign direct investment into the economy.
“I think it is good it is an indication that they are seeing great potentials and opportunities in Nigeria. It is an indication that we are still able to attract a lot of high profile FDI; it is also an indication of the opportunity that are in the Nigerian economy for investors. So I think it is a good thing and it will help to send some positive signal to other investors because you know this type of thing also has a bandwagon effect. Just like when MTN came and they started making money other investors started coming in. So this will also help that type of effect in helping to get more investors; so it is good for the Nigeria economy giving room for a foreign direct investment and it is looking positive for investors”
Also speaking on the automobile policy, he said that the policy is not sustainable, even as he called on the government to revisit the duty payable on imported vehicles to what it is used to be before the policy.
He reiterated that by reducing the duty, it will go a long way to checkmate and provide jobs for many Nigerians adding that it will be another source of revenue for the government.
“Automobile policy is not a sustainable policy as it is, so what we need to do is to go back to what the import duty used to be both for cars, trucks and buses, we need to review them, we are not yet in a state or a stage where we can be imposing the type of import duty that we are putting on vehicles. We have to reduce the import duty on vehicles to what it was before the automotive policy; that is the key amendment. That will help to boost the revenue and the activities in our ports. It will help to create more jobs at the ports; it will help to reduce smuggling. So those are the things and you can now have more incentives aside of carriage for those who have invested in the automobile industry and give them more tax incentive that is the way to go”, he concluded.
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