A clearing agent and the Secretary of the Apapa Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Mr. Frank Odedesi, has said that the ban on land importation of vehicles and the reduction on the duties payable on imported trucks are the major reason for the increase on the vehicles coming into the country.
Odedesi, who said this in an interview with Shipping Position Daily last week in Lagos, also said that statistics have shown that importation of vehicles have increased by 10% in the first half of this year compared to what was obtained last year.
“In terms of vehicles, I don’t normally clear that always but the information I got from my colleagues, especially from Tincan and PTML is that importation has increased based on the available statistics. I think as at last year they had about 67% but this year it is now 77% within the same period under review. The increment can be attributed to the ban on vehicles coming in through the land borders and there are something too on the duty of trucks, the duty on trucks has been reduced”, he said.
He also fingered loading of vehicles in the container as another booster of the huge importation of vehicles this year.
“Secondly some of the importers have been bringing in vehicles through containers; they see it as an avenue to bring in so many vehicles. You know when you containerize a vehicle; the container can take three or four depending on how you arrange it. Then the influx of accident vehicles which most Nigerian importers are doing now have also increased the importation of vehicles into the country”
“They will bring in these damaged vehicles repair them and sell them off as new ones. Some Nigerians too have got the license for auctioning in America and UK, where they can bring in these vehicles as auction at a very reduced price”, he concluded.
Discussion about this post