8 July 2008
editorial
Abuja — The call by the National Automotive Council to ban importation of used cars is surely bound to provoke a lot of concern from the public. An immediate reaction would be if the ban is imposed what would be the alternative?
For now none, because Nigeria does not yet appear ready to produce the Made-in-Nigeria car that we have been talking about for decades now.
Some three decades ago government decided to invite the Peugeot Automobile company, the Volkswagen Manufacturing company and Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company, ANAMMCO to establish plants in Nigeria., specifically in Kaduna, Lagos and Enugu respectively, to serve as precursors to eventual vehicle manufacture in Nigeria. Sadly the attempt has floundered badly. Of the three, only Peugeot Automobile company still does skeletal operations and all it does is to import Completely Knocked Down (CKD) parts from France and assemble them here in the name of manufacturing. The Volkswagen and the ANAMMCO have folded up. A combination of factors including deteriorating state of the economy contributed to force the products of these companies beyond the means of the average Nigerian buyer. For instance, in the 70s Peugeot cars sold for a little over #3000, a new graduate was given one on employment which he paid for instalmentally through monthly deductions. Today at over #4 million naira per one, its customers are government agencies and blue chip companies. In sum the reason for establishing them has been thoroughly defeated.
For now, therefore, imported used cars appear a necessary evil. Without them commuting would be difficult if not well nigh impossible. Yet, the call to ban used car import should not be dismissed outrightly without due consideration. One reason in support is the huge amount of money expended on what are, in fact, discarded cars, many of them already disused and in a state of disrepair. Some of the highly sophisticated ones constitute problems for their owners who spend huge sums of money trying to maintain them. When they are eventually discarded they constitute a veritable environmental and health hazards. Considering the rate and the number at which these cars are imported it is safe to say Nigeria has become a dumping ground for these cars.
This is why it has become necessary for a policy to be enunciated on the issue, which at once grapples with the ban of used cars as well as its effect on transportation. Such a policy would have to take into account the age of the vehicle being imported, for instance a peg of 5 years can be placed on used cars above which none must be allowed to come in. To be able to enforce this, alternative means of transportation would have to be provided. Abuja and to some extent Lagos are places where there are some semblance of organized bus transportation system, this would have to be extended to other cities Thankfully, there already exists a vibrant private ownership transportation system in the country, what is required is to build on this by ensuring that the means of transportation are given out at concessionary rate.
Yet, as has been stated several times, a sure way to vastly ameliorate the transport problem is to once and for all modernize the nation's railway system. It bears repeating that an intra-city system of railways complemented by an improved existing inter-city railways that runs across the length and breadth of the country would vastly reduce the bottle-neck that transportation has come to constitute in Nigeria today.
In conclusion, we want to say that bringing to fruition the made in Nigeria car is well within our grasp. Prototypes such as the one made by the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria is waiting to be patented and produced on an industrial scale. India, through its TATA (a Motor Manufacturing company) is working towards solving India's intractable transport problem. Nigeria should follow suit. Daily Trust believes that the starting point of that enterprise is the completion of Nigeria's steel making capacity to produce the critical components of an automotive industry
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