Resubmission of auto policy bill lingers, 1 year after

Law can enable Toyota assembly, others Uncertainty still trails the planned resubmission of the National Automotive Industry Development Plan Bill popularly known as Auto Policy Bill to the National Assembly more than one year after, Daily Trust reports. The bill seeks to provide a legal framework to guide investment in the automotive sector and provide […]

• Law can enable Toyota assembly, others

Uncertainty still trails the planned resubmission of the National Automotive Industry Development Plan Bill popularly known as Auto Policy Bill to the National Assembly more than one year after, Daily Trust reports.

The bill seeks to provide a legal framework to guide investment in the automotive sector and provide incentives for investors especially the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) willing to set up plants in Nigeria.

However, stakeholders have expressed worry over the delay in the resubmission of the Bill to the National Assembly even as investment opportunities slip away from Nigeria.

The federal government had promised to send the new bill to the National Assembly after the previous bill passed by the 8th Assembly was not signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo said in January 2021 that the draft bill was ready and being fine-tuned in the Ministry while it would be sent to auto stakeholders for their inputs before being presented to the lawmakers.

He said the government has already invited original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Toyota, Honda, among others to make Nigeria a manufacturing hub, noting that the bill would give them the confidence to invest in Nigeria.  

At the time, the Minister assured that the Bill would have been sent to the National Assembly by August.

However, 18 months after, the bill is yet to reach the legislators. Expressing concern, Chairman of the Automobile Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr Kunle Jaiyesinmi, said the delay showed the type of seriousness the federal government attached to the NAIDP.

He said, “Virtually all the automobile assembly plants have closed shop because of the unfavourable economic environment and regulatory framework guiding their operations.

“It’s far more profitable and convenient to import Fully Built vehicles rather than go into the blind venture of importing SKD/CKD for local assembling. And nothing wiĺl happen to the bill until after the general elections in 2023.

“Meaning the next dispensation of the National Assembly and the executive will inherit the eight-year-old bill that took Ghana less than 10 months to pass and implement,” he noted.

But an official of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), said the bill is almost ready and currently going through stakeholders’ input.

“There is actually a committee that is working on it. They are yet to send it to the National Assembly. And you know it requires some lobbying and electioneering is presently stalling it,” said the official.