Six years after the automotive policy introduced in October 2013 by Former President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, to encourage local manufacturing of vehicles and discourage importation as well as gradually phase out used cars, stakeholders in the maritime industry have faulted it, saying that it has underperformed.
Practitioners in the maritime industry who spoke to Shipping Position Daily in separated interviews last week in Apapa, Lagos, said that a lot needed to be done to resuscitate the policy, even as they added that the policy is only functional when it comes to collecting of 70% both duty and levy on imported new vehicles.
The former president of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) Dr. Frank Ukor, said that the government should encourage local vehicle assemblers instead of frustrating them.
“At least, we should have been seeing some assembly plants to know that we can be able to manufacture our own cars, but we are not seeing anything. The government ended up frustrating a lot of indigenous car assembly companies like the Innosson vehicle assembly plant. Instead of encouraging people to start assembling plants in Nigeria they are frustrating the people who are producing in Nigeria. The government is not making any efforts towards promoting made-in -Nigeria vehicles”
Also speaking, a frontline maritime Lawyer, Emmnuel Nwagbara, charged the government to provide all the support and conducive atmosphere for local assemblers to operate.
“We need all the support, including a vehicle testing laboratories for them to measure and test qualities. All these should not be left for individuals alone; the government should come in where necessary by the way of creating enabling environment for the auto business to thrive”
Meanwhile, the Ports &Terminal Multipurpose Limited (PTML) chapter chairman of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); George Okafor, also said that the policy is only very active when it comes to collecting 70% that is, 35% duty and 35% levy on new vehicles.
“Well, the policy is on the imported new vehicles mainly which are paying 70%, that is 35% duty and 35% levy that is where it is effective. I don’t even know the money they are collecting if they are using it to go on with the policy”
“I am not sure that they are following up the policy, but I know that the issue of levies they are collecting on new vehicles are still on and the levy they are still collecting on vehicles that have not gone beyond 30, 000 millage is still on”, he concluded.
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