From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA), a body of local auto mobile manufacturing and assembly companies in Nigeria has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari, to authorise the amendment of the tariff portion of the 2020 Finance Bill.
According to the association, the bill is unfavourable to them and could lead to outright extinction of the companies.
NAMA also said that the legislation could also result in the closure of 54 assembly plants in the country which has total installed capacity of 417,690 units per annum, in addition to over 6, 000 jobs that would be lost. It said the decision could also roll back gains made by the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) in past years.
In addition to that, NAMA said that all the investments made over the years by these local assembly plants in excess of $1 billion might be lost, thus adding pressure on scarce foreign exchange(forex) reserves.
Chairman of PAN Nigeria, Ahmed Wadada Aliyu, told journalists in Abuja, on Tuesday, that the bill was literally designed to encourage importation of used cars otherwise known as “Tokunbo”.
