President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to facilitate signing into law the National Auto Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) Bill. The auto assemblers made the joint call in a communiqué issued after the Nigeria Auto Industry Summit (NAISU) organised by the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) in Lagos.
Described as a key for developing the country’s economy through the automotive industry, the long-awaited NAIDP, according to the stakeholders, would provoke OEMs’ confidence in the country’s economy and erase their fear of policy summersault.
In the communiqué made available to journalists, the automakers, among other medium-term measures, stressed that, while passing the NAIDP, a provision backing compulsory patronage of locally assembled/manufactured vehicles by all government functionaries, establishments, agencies and parastatals must be re-enacted and implemented.
The stakeholders charged the country’s government at all levels to patronise only vehicles made or assembled in Nigeria, as a way of leading by example, saving foreign exchange and securing jobs.
In the same vein, they charged the National Assembly to review the zero differentials between import duties on fully built-up (FBU) and completely knocked down (CKD) commercial vehicles, which presently stands at 10 per cent.
Organised by the NAJA in collaboration with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), the event was attended by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite; Director General of NADDC, Joseph Osanipin and representatives of key auto industry stakeholders, the Nigeria Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA).
Automotive Local Component Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (ALCMAN), Lagos State, and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi.
On what they described as an unclear process utilised in the recent launch and allocation of 1000 units of CNG vehicles to local assemblers, the stakeholders asked the National Assembly to, when passing the NAIDP, incorporate a provision that mandates the federal government to give a fair chance for all existing auto assemblers and manufacturers to partake in supplies of CNG vehicles to the government.
Noting that proceeds of the ‘Levy’ charged on the import of passenger vehicles should be used for its purpose, which is the development of the automotive industry, the communiqué read: “The government must simplify the CNG process by harmonising the workings of the Federal Ministry of Finance and that of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on the issue of gazetted duty-free CNG equipment.
“The government must ensure that all imported used vehicles, including salvaged ones, must be accompanied by certificates of integrity by originating countries.
“The government should tackle inadequate access to finance through its fiscal and monetary policies; take a second look at interest rates offered by Nigerian banks which are significantly higher compared to other countries,” it said.
As a long-term measure, the stakeholders urged the Federal Government to aggressively incentivise CKD assembly through contract manufacturing to leverage the existing automotive assembly capacities and expeditiously restore the automotive industry to its heights in the 1980s.
“The government,” it stated, “should develop and implement an automotive raw materials and component manufacturing master plan”.