The Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan Implementation Committee will address the challenge of reliance on imported vehicles in the country.
The Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, Joseph Osanipin, made this disclosure in a statement seen on Tuesday.
Last week, the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, inaugurated the committee with membership from relevant federal ministries and agencies of the government in Abuja.”
Osanipin said the new auto policy (NAIDP-2023) was signed in the year 2023 with the sole aim of curtailing Nigeria’s almost total dependence on imports of automobiles.
According to Osanipin, the implementation would meet a significant proportion of demand through domestic production of vehicles and components.
“The importance of inaugurating the committee is to see to proper implementation of the NAIDP-2023 and to ensure that there is an inter-governmental handshake in achieving the seven pillars of the policy,” he said.
Data from the International Trade Administration of the United States showed that Nigeria’s annual vehicle demand was 720,000 units, while local factories could only produce a fraction of 14,000 units annually, resulting in a substantial shortfall that necessitates imports to meet consumer needs.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first nine months of 2023, the country imported used vehicles valued at N926.09bn from the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
The first quarter witnessed used car imports worth N59.53bn, a figure that surged to N721.79bn in the second quarter, only to experience a dip to N144.77bn in the third quarter.
The NAIDP 2023 Implementation Committee has Uzoka-Anite as the chairperson, other members include the Ministers of Finance, Transport and Environment.
