Ban On Tokunboh Vehicles Not Feasible, Will Create Unemployment ---Car Dealers

Importers and dealers in fairly-used vehicles, popularly called Tokunboh have reacted sharply to Wednesday’s decision of the Federal Government to ban importation of used vehicles. They told our correspondent yesterday that the ban was not enforceable, and that it would lead to unemployment.
Urging the Federal Government to have a rethink of the policy, the stakeholders reacted differently to the policy that was announced by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga on Wednesday. They however appealed that government should have a rethink.
Aganga had said the policy would encourage local manufacturing of vehicles and enforce a gradual phase out of used cars, popularly known as ``Tokunbo ‘’.
He said government’s projection, with strict implementation of the policy, was that a brand new car locally produced would sell for less than N1.5 million.
But, a cross section of operators who spoke with Shipping Position Daily yesterday in Lagos condemned the policy, even as they lamented that millions of Nigerians will be thrown into the labour market.
President United Berger Automobile Dealers Association; Chief Metche Nnadiekwe urged the government to have a rethink because, according to him, the policy will bring suffering to Nigerians.
Metche noted that importation of vehicles into the country has contributed immensely to government revenue, adding that it is an unfavourable policy to the nation.
He added that it will negatively affect revenue that should go to the government.
On his part, Ekene Obeleague said the ban is impossible, stressing that the government should rather fix the moribund automobile assembly plants before coming up with such a policy.
He added that such policy will create confusion among stakeholders in the automobile industry.
But Aganga had said that the policy, drawn over the last nine months, had the input of the National Automotive Council and foreign car manufacturers, such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda.
The minister recalled that there was a similar policy in the country in the 1970s during which new Peugeot and Volkswagen cars were produced locally and were affordable for average citizens.
He said the pitfalls in the policy were as a result of non-implementation, the lack of infrastructure, inappropriate tariff regime, among others.
He said government had identified the pitfalls and put forward measures that would guard against the inadequacies and encourage the success of the policy.
He cited countries, such as Brazil, India and South Africa where the policy had worked effectively.
Aganga said that Nigeria and Bangladesh were among the few countries without national automotive policies.
Aganga outlined the highpoints of the new policy to include the establishment of three automotive clusters in three parts of the country.
The three areas are Lagos and Ogun states, Kaduna and Kano states and Anambra and Enugu states.
 Rather than outright ban as being speculated,  Aganga  had said that appropriate tariff regimes would be put in place to discourage car importation and encourage local manufacturing.
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