A senior lecturer at Covenant University, Ota in Ogun State, Dr Oscar Odiboh, has urged the Federal Government to drop the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) Bill.
Odiboh said the policy was not working.
He said N2.5 trillion might be lost following the Federal Government’s non-assent to the bill.
NAIDP is Federal Government’s initiative to stimulate investment in local vehicle production unveiled in October 2013.
Odiboh, lamenting that two successive governments rejected their own auto bills, insisted the Federal Government should drop the policy.
The lecturer, who is an automotive communication consultant, spoke at the weekend at Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) workshop in Lagos.
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He said non-assent to the bill had proven anti-policy agitators right and put a question mark on the consistency of our patriotism.
He said: “Even stakeholders are not comfortable with the policy and there have been too much ado in doing nothing. Nothing is working.
“Let the industry move on. Revolution is not by force. It starts with evolution. We must evolve to revolve. Let our auto industry evolve, then it can revolve.”
Odiboh said the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) should restrict itself to design, development of infrastructure and campaigns on patriotic patronage of made-in-Nigeria vehicles.
He advised that “Customs should increase tariff on used imported vehicles from 30 per cent to 80 per cent. Reduce tariff on brand new imported vehicles from 70 per cent to 30 per cent and introduce zero per cent tariff on locally CKD assembled vehicles.”
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