With most assembly plants on idle mode, recent statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that Nigeria spent the sum of N1.08 trillion to import used cars and motorcycle between October 2018 and September 2019.
The reports indicates that, used cars and motorcycle importation into the country with an estimated 11 million vehicles on circulation rose from N252.3 billion in Q4 2018 to N301.8 billion in q3 2019.
Despite the upward reviews of tariffs and duties imposed on the importation of cars and motorcycles by the Federal Government since 2014, the story continues as car importation figures keep increasing. Regrettably, Nigeria’s automobile industry still remains at a standstill despite the huge growth potential it presents to the country.
Importation of used cars gulped N676.3 billion during the period while the amount spent on motorbike importation stood at N411.3 billion.
Till date, Nigeria remains a large import-dependent country as the nation’s import bill between October 2018 and September 2019 rose to N15.19 trillion while the country’s export for the same period stood at N18.87 trillion.
This implies that the country’s trade balance summed up to be N3.68 trillion showing that: This also says that the country’s import amounting to N15.19 trillion, used cars and motorcycle importation accounted for 7% of the country’s total import.
According to the reports, most motorbikes imported into the country are completely Knocked Down; a condition where a disassembled item parts require assembling by the end-user or the re-seller.
This means goods are shipped in CKD form to reduce freight charges on the basis of the space occupied by the volume of the item.
On the other hand, used cars imported are either with diesel or semi-diesel engine of cylinder capacity.
According to NBS, many of the used imported cars came from countries like the United States, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Canada.
However, motorcycles (CKD) imported into Nigeria are basically from India and China.
In recent years, ride and motorcycle-hailing platforms are one of the two fastest-growing businesses in Nigeria.
Industry analysts say as technology keeps evolving, so is the ride-hailing industry. Today, spread all over major commercial cities across the country are Uber, Bolt, OgaTaxi, GidiCab and many others, all competing in the ride-hailing industry.
On the other hand, the bike-hailing platforms are equally worth the mention, with GoKada, Opay, Max.NG and so on.
Hence, as the ride-hailing industry continues to expand, investors spend trillions of naira to import most of the items. The industry expansion is indeed a welcome development as this creates thousands of jobs for Nigeria’s teeming population.
MIKE OCHONMA
