A COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END Of THE MAIDEN NIGERIA AUTO INDUSTRY SUMMIT (NAISU) ORGANISED BY THE NIGERIA AUTO JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION (NAJA) IN COLLABORATION WITH THE NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (NADDC) HELD ON 27TH JUNE, 2024 AT RADISSON HOTEL, GRA IKEJA IN LAGOS
THEME: “DEVELOPING NIGERIA’S ECONOMY THROUGH THE AUTO INDUSTRY.”
Participants
1. Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, represented by Deputy Director in the Ministry of Industry Development Office, Mrs. Olumuyiwa Ajayi
2. Director General of National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Joseph Osanipin
3. Executive Director, Nigeria Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA), Mr Remi Olaofe
4. Director, Nigeria Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA), Mr. Kenneth Elekuba Anselm
5. National Coordinator, Automotive Local Component Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (ALCMAN), Ilekuba Anselm .
6. Director, Transport and Commuter service, representing Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi
7. Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, represented by Customs’ Area Comptroller, Ports and Terminal Multi Services Ltd (PTML), Mankini Daniyan and
8. Representatives of key auto industry stakeholders
RESOLUTIONS
Issues concerning the Nigeria’s automotive industry were elaborately discussed during the Summit and at the end of the deliberations; resolutions categorized into short, medium and long terms were reached as follows:
Short term
1. The government should sign the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) into law and also ensure that all agreements reached during the signing are fully implemented, to reposition the automotive industry for economic growth and development.
2. There should be a review of the zero differentials between imports of fully built up (FBU) and Completely Knocked Down (CKD) commercial vehicles, which presently stands at 10 per cent.
3. CNG drive must be incorporated in the policy and existing assemblers given fair chance to partake in supplies rather than the current unclear process utilized to launch and allocate 1000 units to few companies
4. Governments at all levels must patronage vehicles assembled in Nigeria to show example, conserve FX and create employment in support of assemblers who have invested heavily in Nigeria’s economy.
5. Government must simplify the CNG process, by harmonizing the workings of the Federal Ministry of Finance and that of the Nigeria Customs Service on the issue of gazetted duty free allowance on CNG equipment.
6. The government should prioritize automotive parks by engaging with Nigeria Free Trade Zone Authority and complete the Automotive Safety Test Centres across the country by 2025.
Medium term
7. Via an executive bill, a law backing compulsory patronage of locally assembled/manufactured vehicles by all government functionaries, establishments, agencies and parastatals must be re-enacted and implemented.
8. The government must ensure that all imported used vehicles, including salvaged, must be accompanied by certificates of integrity by originating countries.
9. The proceeds of the “Levy” charged on the import of passenger vehicles should be used for its purpose, which is the development of the automotive industry, “especially in the area of Vehicle Credit Scheme”
10. The government should tackle inadequate access to finance through its fiscal and monetary policies; take a second look at interest rates offered by Nigerian banks which are significantly higher compared to other countries.
11. There should be proper management and restriction on the inflow of used vehicles to ensure balance between industry needs and consumer preference for Nigeria to reap automotive industry benefits, while the federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, must negotiate with countries or regions from which these dirty vehicles originate.
12. The government should sustain and encourage import deletion continuously as a way to discourage a situation whereby second hand vehicles continue to undermine local manufacturing
Long Term
13. In encouraging CKD, stakeholders placed lots of emphasis on backward integration; therefore, the government should consider the huge investments already put in by investors on CKD vehicle assembly plants and also the cost of maintenance.
14. The government should aggressively incentivize CKD assembly through contract manufacturing to leverage the nation’s existing automotive assembly capacities and expeditiously restart the automotive industry from its heights in the 1980s.
15. Nigeria should join many other countries that have developed their economies through investment in the automotive sector and its value chain like the production of body parts with significant local content.
16. Government should midwife the emergence of a corporation that will provide shared Industrial Infrastructure (e.g. punchline, press, machining, casting, stamping, fabrication, and molding infrastructure).
17. Legacy assembly plants should be encouraged to invest in modern and more efficient production technology; attain competitiveness through creating economies of scale and securing unity of purposes across all relevant agencies of government for the NAIDP.
18. The government should develop and implement an automotive raw materials and component manufacturing master plan.
19. Tyre, battery, and glass manufacturing should be revived as a precursor to revamping local manufacture of: welded parts (exhaust system, seat frames); electrical parts (batteries, trafficators, wiring harness); plastic and rubber parts (tyres, tubes, fan blades, seat foam, oil seals, hoses, radiator grills, etc); radiator, cables, filters, brake pads/linings, windscreens, side glasses, fibre-glass parts, paints; rubber products (tyres) and thereafter, other Tier 2 and aftermarket components.
20. The proceeds of the “Levy” charged on the import of passenger vehicles should be used for its purpose, which is the development of the automotive industry, especially in the area of Vehicle Credit Scheme
