‘Auto policy key for Nigeria’s gain from AfCFTA’

The federal government was yesterday tasked to put in place the Automotive Industry Development Plan to reap the gains of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

Managing Director, Nissan’s Africa Regional Business Unit, Mike Whitfield, in a chat with newsmen in Lagos, said while Africa accounts for only 1.3 percent of the world’s vehicles, the continent comprises 17% of the globe’s people with motorisation rate at 42 per 1000 individuals, compared to the global average of 182.

But Whitfield, who is also the President of the Association of African Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM), said the potential of the industry can be unlocked through institutionalising auto policy.

Daily Trust reports that the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) known as the auto policy has suffered bureaucratic bottlenecks over the years.

However, the government through the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) had assured that the auto policy bill would be passed into law before the end of 2021.

Whitfield urged Nigeria and other concerned African nations to, without delay, put in place the policy, saying it would create incentives for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and automotive manufacturers, to set up assembly plants in those countries.

This is in addition to ensuring transfer of skills, industrialisation and economic diversification.

He said: “The biggest problem is that 80% of the African vehicle fleet is second-hand, imported from the UK, the US and Japan.”