KOREDE FOGO
Clearing agents operating at the nation’s seaports have called for the suspension of the National Automotive Council (NAC), 15 percent levy slammed on imported used vehicles, also known as ‘Tokunbo’ by the Federal Ministry of Finance, saying it was an overkill.
In a chat with BUSINESSINSIDERNG, the acting president, Association of Nigeria Liscenced Customs Agents (ANLCA), Kayode Farinto, said the 15 percent levy was an abberration, saying NAC levy is slammed on new Vehicles and not Tokunbo Vehicles.
According to Farinto, NAC was two percent of the Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF), on new vehicles or new spare parts and not on Tokunbo Vehicles.
He said, “NAC is a policy formulated to protect our local assemblers thinking by now we will be able to produce Nigeria-made vehicles and it was supposed to be two percent of the Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF), on new vehicles or new spare parts for vehicles, but implementing or imposing NAC on used vehicles is an aberration and we will follow, fight and get to Abuja about it.”
He, however, said that the auto policy has failed, saying local producers can’t meet local demand for vehicles in the country.
Farinto said, “I told them at Abuja that the auto policy is a failure, the auto policy was actually formulated to fail because we are not producing any vehicle spare part and the policy has been on for a long time with a lot of billion of Naira waived for local vehicle assemblers.
“Local assemblers haven’t been able to meet local demand despite government intervention. What we have are Semi Fully Built (SFB), where they bring parts in and put them together and they say they are produced in Nigeria. We don’t have local producers that will meet our demand, rather what we have is people benefiting and enriching themselves from the policy.”