ROTIMI ASHER
The stories making the round that the auto policy has been suspended may not be true after all, Motoring World has been informed.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he former Acting Director- General, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Luqman Mamudu, who debunked the story, alleged it was cooked up by enemies of Nigeria, who aimed at undermining the nation’s automotive policy.
Contrary to recent reports published by certain national daily, Mr. Mamudu said he was unaware of any circular from the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo pronouncing suspension of the auto policy.
He said: ‘’I have not seen any circular suspending the policy, which was negotiated with EconomyCommunity of West Africa States (ECOWAS). Some ill-informed elements want it suspended. Stories are cooked up to undermine the policy but it has not been suspended. I also read somewhere that the new minister promised to review the policy and not to suspend it.
‘’One thing that keeps recurring, which is strange to me, is that the policy has constrained the inflow of vehicles to Nigeria. Automotive imports to Nigeria before the 2014 have remained largely pre-owned and this has remained so till date.’’
Mamudu lamented that all corners and streets in Nigeria are filled with vehicles imported from floods and scrapyards of Europe and elsewhere, a development he described as an embarrassment to Nigeria.
He stated: ‘’The provision in the National Automotive Industry Development Programme (NAIDP) to increase levy on pre-owned automobile import has, to the best of my knowledge, not been activated because it’s dependent on a successful launch of a low cost vehicles acquisition scheme.
NADDC institutional framework for policy implementation is still very active and the act establishing it remains intact.’’
According to Mamudu, the nation’s auto policy is overdue for review, being six years to implementation.
‘’Therefore,’’ he stressed, ‘’It is perfectly alright if the case is that the minister promised he would review the policy and not to suspend it. I am sure that monitoring and evaluation results should be indicative of this need.
‘’I saw a call for expression of interest by NADDC sometimes during the first quarter of 2019 but I don’t know what became of it.’’
Mamudu stressed a need to urgently do a review of the policy to address issues constraining effort to meet desired targets, warning that if delayed further could lead to public mobilization against the policy, due to imperfections unaddressed.
‘’Many of the policy programs seem to have been abandoned,’’ Mamudu said, adding, ‘’These programs should be priority because they remain the pillars of the Nigeria automotive agenda.
‘’As at now, we are lucky to have the presence of several notable Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in partnership with Nigeria Entrepreneurs actively engaged in assembling but their capacity utilization is far less than 15% of installed capacity.
The former Acting NADDC boss frowned at delay in implementation of low cost credit purchase scheme.
He snapped: ‘’A low cost credit purchase scheme designed to drive down the cost of new vehicle acquisition by Nigerians is yet to be achieved 6 year going. I don’t know what is so difficult about this.’’
He recalled that even the International Finance Corporation (IFC), commercial arm of World Bank and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) indicated interest in partnering on this project.
He added: ‘’I think we should increase our effort in this direction rather than calling for the head of the policy.
‘’Implementation is our bane in this country. We have countless quality policies. This critical pillar of NAIDP must be quickly realized.’’
