The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the whopping $8 billion being spent yearly to import used vehicles into the country, saying the trend constitutes a huge rip-off to the nation’s foreign reserves,
He expressed the concern over the used vehicles import bill at the Abuja International Motor Fair on Tuesday, saying about 500,000 used vehicles are shipped to the country every year.
Represented at the forum by the Director General, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Jelani Aliyu, the Vice President pointed out that the ugly development was not only costing Nigeria foreign exchange alone but also vitiating the governments’ job creation drive.
Osinbajo lamented that most of the used vehicles were over 10 years old, unsafe and polluting the environment, adding that Nigerians deserve more than what they are getting from the car importation deals.
While expressing the need for the trend to be reversed in view of the many automotive companies now producing vehicles locally, the Vice President said that “we should learn from countries like South Africa, India, Asia and other nations that has proven that local automotive sector can be developed”
He restated the Federal Government’s commitment to building an automotive industry, noting that the N-Power, which is an initiative that is dedicated to training of Nigerian youths in various skills, could be helpful in realizing the dream
According to him, in 2018 alone the Federal Government, in collaboration with NADDC, trained over 3,200 youths in the mecha-tronics with a view to unlocking their capabilities and developing highly skilled Nigerians for the automotive sector development.
