Maritime experts and stakeholders have called for a policy shift in the Nigerian automobile industry.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily last week in Lagos, Nwagbara maintained that stakeholders in the sector have spoken enough to drive a policy change in the automobile industry.
He explained that with all that have been said about the sector last year and with thorough examination of the auto policy, there is an urgent need for a shift in policy, adding there is need for a policy in the port that will promote the automobile policy.
Nwagbara however lauded the policy, saying that it is good but should be implemented at a time when the right environment is in place.
“I believe that stakeholders have spoken enough to drive a policy change on automobile industry; I believe that with all that we have said in 2018 and with a thorough examination of that policy, I believe that there will be a policy shift. I believe that there will be liberal policies in the ports that would promote the auto policy and at the same time not have negative effect”, he said.
He maintained that the “auto policy is good, but it should be implemented at a time when the right environment is in place with a demand in power and other things. We demand a port environment that is friendly to do business at the Nigerian ports; the policy is good if implemented at the right time”.
Meanwhile, in a separate interview with our correspondent, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the National Association of Government Approves Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Mr. Stanley Ezenga, called for the full enforcement of the age restriction on imported vehicles.
He maintained that vehicles over 15 years from the year of manufacturing should not be allowed into the country, adding that offenders should be severely punished.
He insisted that age restriction of vehicles should be fully enforced and that those over 15 years should not be allowed to come into Nigeria.
“The vehicles inside the ports to some extent obeyed the rule, but then even those who have arrived and are in the ports already, certain penalties should be meted out to them. So this time around instead of this normal duty they used to pay, they should look at outright seizure because they are traded goods, rather let’s look at a situation where they pay penalties, so that next time that will serve as a deterrent for those who will like to do such, or if they want, they can pay and bring in such”, he concluded.
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