The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has advised the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to address issues bordering on importation of used vehicles into the country as part of efforts to strike a balance in the implementation of the automotive policy.
Founder of NAGAFF; Dr. Boniface Aniebonam said there is need for government to ensure that the older the age of a fairly used car shipped from overseas to Nigeria, the higher the rate on duty.
While speaking with Auto Port Weekly last week in Lagos, he said the lower the age of any brand, the lower the rate of duty.
Aniebonam added that government could make its revenue through this process if it can stick to this advice.
He said by adopting the suggestion, importation of sub-standard spare parts will reduce , while considering the level of influx of old parts that are everywhere in the Nigerian market.
He said that Nigeria remained a dumping ground for all kinds of vehicle spare parts.
The politician stressed that new vehicles need nothing less than five years before issues surrounding parts might arise, but noted that with fairly used vehicles, the tendency of changing its parts perennially is high.
The NAGAFF chief said that government needs to be radical on policies associated with import procedures and process, stressing that the freight forwarding association has written to the APC government on its position as regards the automotive policy, which was put in place by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
He opined that, "government would always do what it wants to do, but we did advice earlier than now that the older a vehicle is the higher rate of duty"
"And the newer the car is the lower the duty and government will still stand in a better position to make more revenue because we are going to safe so much by not importing all manners of spare parts for the older used vehicles", he argued.
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