Why smuggling of vehicles will persist in Nigeria —Russo

The auto policy of the Federal goverment would continue to fuel smuggling of vehicles into Nigeria despite the efforts of Nigeria Customs Service to curb the monster.

The Managing Director of Grimaldi Shipping Line,the operator of PTML terminal , Ascania Russo, who dropped this hint in Lagos ,observed that the policy has emasculated the purchasing power of Nigerians who cannot afford to pay the exorbitant duties slammed on vehicles legitimately brought into the country.

It could be recalled that the policy, which was introduced in 2014,slammed a whopping 70 percent tariff on vehicle imports.

According to the policy, vehicle imports attract 36 per cent duty and 35 per cent levy, making a total of 70 per cent.

To enforce strict compliance and monitoring, importaction of vehicles was banned through the borders.

Russo explained that this was what is responsible for the non-compliance level at the port and high level of smuggling at the borders. According to him, Nigerians can no longer afford to buy new vehicles because of the 35% duty and 35% levy slammed on vehicle imports.

He lamented that most vehicle terminals are filled with accidented vehicles that have been ravaged by flood in Europe, while Luxury vehicles are smuggled through Cotonou port.

“If you increase the rate of duty on vehicles overnight by 100 percent, no matter how much you claim to be compliant, there is no way you can afford to pay this amount of duties.

“This is why most of the vehicles are smuggled through neighboring ports”, he said.

Speaking further, he said, “We also have Grimaldi Lines in different countries, we operate in Cotonou and we see what is happening there, we have the figures, so I can tell you that over 50% of vehicles destined for Nigeria and belongs to Nigeria are discharged in Cotonou port, why is that? It is because it is too expensive to clear these vehicles in Nigeria and the bottom line is that people cannot afford to pay this money”

“If we really want Nigerians to have a comfortable means of transportation, it is not even luxury vehicles, we are not talking about the Toyota Prado, the Land cruiser, Range Rover, we are talking about tokunbo vehicles, these are not luxury cars”.

The PTML boss lamented that four years after the automotive policy, Nigerians are yet to be riding the much-expected made-in-Nigeria vehicles as promised by the Federal Government during the introduction of the automotive policy.

According to him, right now there is a huge leakage of revenue for the government because vehicles are going to neighboring countries and it is very frustrating because these vehicles are coming back to Nigeria.

Buttressing his point, Russo said: “Unfortunately, after the auto policy was introduced in 2014, this is four years down the line; I am yet to see thousands of cars assembled in Nigeria.

The bottom line is not even the availability of the vehicles, it is the price, who can afford a made-in-Nigeria vehicle when it costs N10million, this is the reality”

“If you look around the port, what we are seeing now is large areas because of the recession, the level of import has gone down, five years ago, we see decent cars being imported here, seven years old cars, five years old cars, they are in good condition, now what you see is accidented cars, so most people now are buying accidented cars that have been ravaged by flood in the US”

“All the rubbish is coming through Nigeria while all the good vehicles which should pay much more duties are going through Cotonou and they are not paying anything”, he lamented.

“So the Federal Government loses, Customs lose, we lose, NPA loses, NIMASA loses, Shippers’ Council loses, the whole country lose. Mostly it is the Nigerian people because these vehicles would be very expensive. This is an example of why there is a high level of non-compliance and cargoes are diverted to other ports”, he stressed.