The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called for the urgent need for the government to review the tariffs payable on imported vehicles into the country.
The Director General of LCCI, Mr. Muda Yusuf who disclosed this in an interview with Shipping Position Daily last week in Lagos, also described the automobile policy as a big failure which has not helped the nation in any way.
He also maintained that the automobile policy and the hike in tariffs payable on imported vehicles have led to the increase in smuggling of vehicles.
“The auto policy is a complete failure, that policy needs to be reviewed urgently it has not helped the auto sector, the revenue, and the government it has also helped in sharp decline of the revenue to the customs that normally should have come through the importation of cars.
It has led to increase in smuggling it has also made it difficult for decent people to function in the auto industry. Then we have created a room where the decent people in the sector can no longer do business and they now created space for criminals to be doing business. You don’t run an economy like that. So the policy is a complete failure and I think the earlier the government reverses it the better for everybody. The government should go back to what it is used to be particularly in the area of the tariff. The tariff of vehicles and trucks should just go back to what is used to be then we can now focus on developing our auto parts industry. Like the spare parts industry, glass industry, tyre industry and others we should start from there. If you want to industrialize a nation start from the basis, you don’t start from the top. You don’t climb a tree from the top you start from the bottom. So the approach in the auto industry should be a bottom-top approach not top-bottom approach. It is not a wishful thinking thing, you say you want to start vehicles production you now introduced automobile policy that moved tariff and levy to 70%, the duty on commercial vehicles were moved to 35%. These duties are too high, that is not what is going to deliver made in Nigeria vehicles”
Mr. Yusuf, also maintained that the automobile policy has not helped the government in revenue generation even as he called for the government to invest more in developing the auto spare parts industry.
“We have quite a couple of millions of vehicles on the Nigerian roads, why not we begin to produce spare parts to service those vehicles first. We need a lot of components of the vehicle let start from there and build capacity. If you put in decisions on that and allow some companies to produce that and you will gradually build capacity. Now look at the problem they have created now too much smuggling, a lot of smuggling is taking place then we are losing revenue at a time when they government need revenue” he said.
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