- Joseph Osanipin, the Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), has suggested that used cars made between 2000 and 2007 not be allowed into the nation.
- At a public sector engagement on the implementation of the Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP 2023-2033) held in Abuja on Tuesday, Osanipin made this recommendation.
- He declared that the NADDC would work with pertinent organizations to set a 20-year maximum age limit for imported used cars.
This program attempts to keep the nation from turning into a dump for outdated cars while promoting domestic vehicle assembly and manufacturing.
- He declared,
- “Again, we need to talk to our colleagues, especially in customs, to start putting age limits on used cars. We cannot allow Nigeria to be a dumping ground for used vehicles.”
- “A situation in which 2000–2007 used vehicles are brought into Nigeria is unacceptable. So we will collaborate with relevant authorities to this effect.”
- “And, apart from that, we will have to specify the minimum standard that has to be in a vehicle for it to come to Nigeria.”
- Local production of car parts
- The director general further stated that certain cars are still allowed to enter Nigeria without airbags and that this practice has to end.
- Osanipin underlined how crucial it is to include stakeholders in the development and implementation of the federal government’s automotive policy.
- He added that low production levels, a lack of local content, and a lack of funding were among the major issues facing the industry at the time the NADDC was founded.
- “The only way we can grow our local content is to start what we call a deletion policy, which is contained in the NAIDP being reviewed today,” he declared.
- “There is no other way for us to develop our parts.” We’re trying to figure out which parts we can make in Nigeria.
- “We are examining the production.” Although the Nigerian automotive industry has made significant progress in the last few years, it is still lagging behind its counterparts in advanced economies. According to the International Trade Administration of the United States, Nigeria’s annual vehicle demand stands at 720,000 units, while local factories are only able to produce 14,000 units a year, resulting in imports to fill the shortfall.
- However, data from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveals that in the first nine months of 2023, Nigeria imported used vehicles worth N926.09 billion from the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
- In the first quarter, used car imports from these two countries stood at N59.53 billion; this rose to N721.79 billion in the second quarter and dropped to N144.77 billion in the third quarter.
