The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has warned the federal government to be careful not to undermine the existing vehicles assembly plants in the country by creating room for the increase in importation of vehicles adding that increment in the number of vehicle imports into the country will obviously negate the need for our own assembly plant.
The President of MAN, Engineer Mansur Ahmed, who said this in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, also called for a continuous review of the automobile policy in other to ensure that the policy is helping the industry to grow rather than undermining it.
“The industry needs that development, if the duties are reduced then it will definitely bring down the prices of cars coming into the country. Then for vehicles assembly plants in this country, we have to be careful that we don’t undermine the industry by creating room for increase in number of imports because that will obviously scrap out the need for our own assembly plants in the country”
The MAN boss maintained that stakeholders in the sector should be carried along when policies are made, even as he stressed that making policies without involving stakeholders in the sector will only undermine those who are in the business.
“I don’t think the automobile policy should be scrapped, but there should be continuous review of the policy to adjust it so that we can always make sure that our policy are helping the industry rather than undermining it, scrapping the policy is not the answer it is actually continuous review that is needed.
“The whole idea about economic management is to balance things and ensure that why you are encouraging investment, you are not also creating a condition that will undermine existing policies”
He charged the government to ensure that there is prompt implementation whenever policies are made.
“What I believe is that it is one thing to make a policy and it is another thing to ensure that the policies are implemented appropriately. Those who are in charge of regulating the duties like the customs and also those who deal on vehicles like the auto dealers should monitor to ensure that they are not taking undue advantage of the duties when reduced and do things that ordinarily, they are not supposed to do”, he said.
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