The stakeholders in the maritime sector have attributed the increase in the volume of vehicles imported into the country as contained in the 1st half of 2014 report released by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) recently to apprehension as a result of the new auto policy that was billed to take effect from July 1, 2014.
NPA had in its 1st half report for the year 2014 disclosed that the vehicle import in the country in the 1st half of 2014 was up by 16.5 percent with a total of 154, 846 units of vehicles handled in the said period as against 132, 930 units handled in the corresponding period of 2013.
Speaking to Primetime reporters in Lagos, the President, Shippers’ Association of Lagos State (SAL), Rev. Jonathan Nicol said that most of the vehicles that came in within the said period were the ones trapped before the automobile policy came up.
Nicol noted that because such vehicles had been paid for before then, importers had no option than to quickly bring them in before the 35 percent levy came into force thus the reason for noticeable increase.
According to him,” if I have ten cars that I have already paid for, am I going to go back to those who sold them to me and say, return my money? Of course, they will not. What I did was to keep them and I was watching government to know if they will implement the 35 percent duty and then another levy”.
“So, immediately they now said that the levy will take place maybe in January, there was a rush, people will have to make their money back. Maybe, that was why NPA had to give that figure”.
He however believed that with the new auto policy partially in place, the figure would definitely come down by the time the second half of 2014 report would be released because most importers were now diverting their vehicle imports to Cotonou and other neighbouring ports.
“35 percent is huge that they can pay for. Some of these cars are not up to one thousand dollars and you want them to pay over two hundred thousand Naira for one second hand car”, Nicol argued.
Also speaking, the former Chairman, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farintho who doubted the authenticity of the report however admitted that the report if proven to be true, may not be unconnected with the rush to beat the new auto policy implementation deadline in the country.
Farintho maintained that there would be fluctuation in the vehicle import in the second half of the year as the true position of the market would be determined between the months of October and November, 2014.
“I can contest the figure issued out by NPA. Let NPA tell us how they come about their data. So, if NPA’s data is actually correct, it is as a result of rush and some backlog that we supposed to have from December and January”.
“What we should expect now is that there is going to be a drastic drop in the importation of these vehicles from now till October, then from October till January, it will increase again because there is going to be another implementation by January. The true position of the market and the industry will give us between now, next month and November. Let us see how it happens, let us collect data and see whether the report would be the same”, Farintho said.
She disclosed that Nigerians were beginning to be skeptical of the government because of inconsistent policies adding that the government initially said that the new auto policy would not be applicable to new vehicles imported into the country which according to him was not the case as at today as the policy affected both the new and fairly used vehicles imported into the country.
On his part, the National President, Nigerian institute of Freight Forwarders and Customs Brokers (NIFFCB), Dr. Zebulon Ikokide described it as a business strategy saying that the importers aware of the coming into effect of the auto policy within a certain period in the cause of the year, took advantage to bring in all their outstanding consignment of vehicles so as not to be caught in the web of the new policy.
He said,” you find that the importers were trying to make fast business move in that aspect and that is why you find that there was an increase. By the time the auto policy fully come on board, you find that people will not be importing as much”.
“But those who have imported will start making brisk business, they will start increasing the prices and so on. They are trying to make business within the short period that is remaining before the policy will be in effect”.
On whether he anticipate any shortfall in the import subsequently, he has this to say,” of course, there will be a decline. There will be, for instance, those who are rushing now, when they finish selling what they have, they must go back to import because they cannot stay out of business. They will continue to import but it won’t be as when the policy had not come into play or they may import and divert them to the ports of the neighbouring countries”.
