AMDON- Ban on land car import may cause 2m job loss

   

    The Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDON) predicts proposed ban on overland importation of cars could cost the government at least N100 billion in lost revenue, cause chaos in transportation sector and render up to 2 million people without work.


   Motor dealers ferry up to 15,000 fairly used vehicles every quarter through land borders from neighbouring countries, according to Ajibola Adedoyin, president of AMDON, with more than 2 million registered members.

    "From the land borders only, the federal government makes more than N100 billion yearly, not to talk about the sea ports. We are talking of so much revenue to be lost," Adedoyin said.

"That's why we feel as stakeholders, we needed to be carried along in this policy so that we can be able to tell the government there are some inherent things that needed to be done before this policy is implemented."

The proposed ban is in effort to grow local assembly and production of vehicles in Nigeria.

"We are not against the policy in question. We support that our country needs to be a hub of car manufacture. The process of getting that done will hurt the economy so much and disenfranchise people. We are not talking about our members alone. The general public will feel the pinch so much," said Adedoyin.

More than 95% of buses and cars used in public transport are bought from AMDON members and cost less than vehicles cleared through sea ports, noting that stopping their entry would create chaos in transportation, the association said.

"The least assembled-in-Nigeria is N3m. How many Nigerians can afford that. That's to say for the next three years there's no average Nigerian that can buy a car," said Adedoyin.

"With what government buys, assemblers are unable to satisfy that market how much more the whole of the Nigerian market."

"We have people who repair our cars, who wash the cars and security guards. We pay them. If the ban comes and all this business stops, no work for Nigerians," said Amanda Orji, administrative staff at a car dealership and member of AMDON.

Another dealer, Mohammed Bawa, said they have had their children sent away from school because they are unable to pay tuition.

"Now you want to stop us from the business. What are we going to turn into," he said. "We voted this government, we thought we were going to enjoy the government, we thought this government was going to bring soft land for us to do business, but today we are seeing something different entirely."

Bawa urged government to suspend the ban.

"How can you stop the source of your revenue? Motor dealers pay the VIO. The revenue generated from the registration of each vehicle is something. Then talk about the payment of duties. Government generates a lot of billions of naira in all these vehicles we import though land borders. When you don't where you generate revenue from, what do you do? Mass sacking, and people will go home doing nothing, and they think evil and howmto make the country uncomfortable for the common man."

AMDON in Abuja planned a protest last week but could not get police approval after news that representatives from countries likely to be affected by the ban were in Nigeria for talks.

It has proposed allowing overland import of vehicles to continue while government continues to patronise Nigeria-assembled or -made cars, which may later be auctioned into public domain. It said continued in-country assembly would create employment while the cars on the market create room for improvement and trust. Eventually they would get cheaper and claim the market from fairly used cars.