The Federal Government has been cautioned to stop the import of used cars from China.
This, the Chairman, Motor Vehicles and Miscellaneous Assembly Sectoral Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr. David Obi, said is inimical to the development of local automobile industry.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced recently that a state-backed company in Guangzhou had officially commenced the shipment of used cars to Cambodia, Myanmar and Russia with Nigeria as one of the major destinations for the first batch of 300 units.
Obi, who described it as “Chinese gift,” said it would also amount to opening the floodgates for used vehicles to submerge the local industry.
Obi, who is also the Chairman of DVC Group, warned that if allowed to flood the local market, the used vehicles from China would add to the damage the influx from Europe and America has been inflicting on the local industry over the years.
Nigeria, he said, should not open its borders for the dumping of disused (internal combustion engine) vehicles from the industrialised countries.
He said: “I was shocked. I was alarmed. Everybody knows that once China joins the used vehicles shipment to Nigeria, we are finished. Moreover, the shipment is an official initiative of the Chinese government and will be sustained over years, which means that millions of fossil fuel vehicles driven in China will end their life-spans in Nigeria as the Chinese look forward to electric cars.
“Luckily for them (the Chinese), we are relieving them of the burden of disposing of vehicles they can no longer use. But, unfortunately for us in Nigeria, our government does not seem to realise the implications of allowing this kind of dumping.
“And, one of the implications of Chinese second-hand vehicles flooding the Nigerian market is that all the efforts being made to promote local auto assembly, deepen auto technology and generate jobs, would definitely be stifled. To me, what should be of concern to the government and all well-meaning Nigerians is the loss of jobs, because the auto industry is like a network which impacts on many other sectors of the economy.”
He lamented the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to give assent to the Nigeria Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) Fiscal Incentive and Guarantees Bill, arguing that the Chinese are simply taking advantage of a loophole resulting from the lukewarm implementation of the auto policy.
“One of the many implications of a legal framework for the policy and the imminent invasion of Chinese ‘tokunbo’ vehicles is that many renowned OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), who are afraid to invest in Nigeria because of our usual policy summersault, will remain reluctant because there is no assurance that their investments will be protected.
“It is also very ridiculous to hear the argument that tokunbo vehicles are not on the import prohibition list and therefore should be allowed to freely come in as long as they are not old. The emphasis should rather be on loss of jobs resulting from the present inactivity in the auto manufacturing sector.
“And there is no way the situation will improve if we continue to allow used vehicles to flood into the country while we take one step forward and two steps backward with the auto policy,” he said.
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