My answer is No. I have not seen any impact so far. The essence of the collection of that levy is to use the proceeds to establish auto plants in Nigeria and create a competition for indigenous manufacturers to develop the auto industry. Currently, there is no impact and no competition at all. Those who are collecting the money are just embezzling the money with no query.
The NAC levy is just a source of government revenue. They are not using it to sustain or encourage the young automobile manufacturing companies. The essence of the levy is to discourage importation and encourage indigenous manufacturing companies. The country is not allowing these companies to spring up. The money only goes to government coffers.
Absolutely nothing! It has not made any impact at all. Instead of cushioning the cost and burden of the automobile industry, it is increasing more and more every day. It does not have any effect on the economy of the automobile industry. The essence of the NAC is to make sure we start producing our own vehicles in Nigeria. It is over many years and up till now we cannot produce a single vehicle. By now we ought to have stopped importing used cars and started producing new cars. It has not really had any positive effect on the auto industry.
The good thing we can say is that now we have one or two auto assembly plants in Nigeria, but we expect a quantum leap. People will always get to the level or rate of development they deserve if we have a system that functions optimally under a proper guided and legally composed framework. But in a situation where we are running a country where law and order is defective, expecting that the automobile industry would have developed as much as the quantum of the levies that have been collected. Somehow, I would say it has not really impacted but at the same time one cannot completely say it is a terrible thing to do. At least, by the fact that they are beginning to go towards a better direction and they have shown some level of commitment by encouraging local manufacturers, we have the Innoson and JAC motors that are producing auto mobile in Nigeria. So let us watch. We are hoping for improvement.
It has not created any impact. We have not seen anything the auto industry is doing with the NAC. Formerly, the NAC was just two percent, but bringing it to 15 percent is really a decision they took without the involvement of stakeholders in the industry. The automobile industry in Nigeria has not even come out to say if the collection is really yielding any positive dividends to them or not. But for us in the maritime industry paying the NAC, it is a very harsh decision and we are not really happy about it. A lot of stakeholders are calling for a review. But if you cry from now till tomorrow, no one will listen to you.
The NAC levy has contributed nothing to the auto industry. The government is just sharing the revenue. The auto industry should be on its own. The government is just using it as a source of collecting money from Nigerians and generating revenue. They are not using the levies collected for anything. We have not seen any impact of the NAC on the industry so far.
In our country, there is no rule of law. Where is the account that the NAC levy is going into and who are those in charge? People in the government will just create some policies and be eating from there and nobody cares. There is no assembly plant in this country that is functional apart from individual ones like Innoson Motors. Before, we had some of them but now there is no plan to revitalize or bring new assembly plants or manufacturing companies in this country. For now, we have not seen any impact of the NAC levy in the Nigerian Auto Industry.
A lot of people kicked against the NAC levy initially when it was introduced saying it has no impact on the economy. Since the NAC levy has been reintroduced it was a test run to see the impact on the economy. After a close observation, we found out that the money is ending in some people’s pockets. There was no accountability. It has not impacted the economy and for that reason, there shouldn’t be reasons why such policies should be made, because many Nigerians are not benefiting; that is why so many of us in the industry are kicking against it. So the government has to stop it.
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