The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has decried the prohibitive cost of importation of vehicles into Nigeria.
Local media reports on Tuesday said that the Chamber has therefore, called on the Nigerian Government to review downward the duty and tariff charges on new vehicles, saying that the current automotive policy was adversely impacting every sector of the economy; especially those depended on transportation for their economic survival.
The reports quoted the Director-General of the LCCI, Mr. Muda Yusuf, as saying in Lagos on Monday that six years down the line, the current policy had not only failed to achieve its objectives; rather it had worsened the economic burden of the Nigerian people it was meant to protect.
Yusuf argued that the tariff had, rather increased the cost of doing business in the country and advised that the current import tax duty and levy of 70 percent on new vehicles be reduced to 35 percent, while that of commercial vehicles be reviewed from 35 percent downwards to 25 percent.
He lamented that none of these multiplier effect was happening and that “the automotive policy, in its current form is not in consonance with the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), which is the main industrial policy document of the current administration”.
GIK/APA