The Chattered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), has lauded the decision of the recent of the Federal Government to ban the importation of trucks that are above 10 years into the country, saying that some importers have turned the nation into a dumping ground for old trucks.
The Institute said this recently in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos.
Speaking during the chat, CILT’s Acting National Director; Mr. Paul Ndibe, also accused some importers of bringing in trucks that do not have economic value in other countries into Nigeria thereby causing avoidable accidents.
He maintained that if anybody is bringing in trucks into the country, they should be trucks that are between 5-10 years of age, and not trucks that have exceeded their usefulness overseas.
“Let us even look at the nature of trucks we have in Nigeria, if there is no such policy, trucks that have been banned or are not economically viable in other countries will be imported into Nigeria instead of discarding them and Nigeria becomes a dumping ground. So if you are importing a truck, let it be a truck that can add value to the economy, trucks that can stand up to 5-10 years not trucks that have exceeded their useful lives abroad and then they are being imported into Nigeria”, he stated.
He also warned against overloading of trucks, adding that due to usage, most of them do not have the capacity to carry what ordinarily they should have been able to carry.
“Let me also take this further, if a truck had been designed to carry 35tons of load, over time because of usage and the compression level of the engine, the engine can now carry maybe 27 or 25 tons. But looking at the trucks you will feel that the truck can still carry the designed load whereas because of usage, it won’t be able to do that. And being ignorant of all these we will still give the truck the same load and that is why some of them find it difficult to climb a hill at times thereby causing accident. So if you are using 10 years old truck, you know within that range these trucks would still be strong enough to climb those hills. This is also one angle the government is exploiting”, he told our correspondent.
Ndibe, also said that with the policy, the automobile industry will also be charged with the responsibility of assembling trucks in the country which will add economic value to the country.
He said that the government gave truckers till 2020 before the implementation of the policy for them to be able to adjust themselves and see how they can bring in fairly new trucks.
“Well you know the government will always roll out policies in other to guide the growth of the economy and the sector. But however the government has indicated its preparedness to ensure that trucks that are more than 10 years old are not allowed to come into the country but this policy will start from 2020. So there is a gap for the practitioners in the sector to look inside and see how they can mobilize towards getting trucks that are new in terms of the age. However, the government is looking at the automotive industry to see how maybe how the assembly of vehicles including the trucks here in Nigeria so that these laws will not impact negatively on the truckers”
“The automotive policy is also keying towards influencing assembly of vehicles in Nigeria which can also influence the assembly of trucks in Nigeria. So with the assembly of trucks, we will be having trucks that are healthier enough to be on our roads and not those that will consistently breakdown”.
On the 2020 take-off date for the ban, he said, “I think the government has given enough consideration so that the operators in the sector will plan towards the implementation of the policy”.
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