Six countries dump N1.7trn used vehicles in Nigeria

RISKY

Vehicles that failed safety and emissions standards have dominated Nigerian roads

 

Despite the automotive policy introduced by the Federal Government in 2013 to gradually phase out used cars, six countries have flooded Nigerian automobile market with N1.79 trillion used motor vehicles and motorcycles in the last two years.

 

The vehicles are those that have failed safety, fuel economy and emission standards in the United States and Europe. They were imported from United States, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Brazil and Canada. Nigeria’s annual vehicle demand is estimated at 720,000 units, while local production is13,000 units.

 

It was revealed that in 2021, the country took delivery of N785.73 billion used vehicles, including motorcycles, while N1 trillion worth of used vehicles were shipped into the country in 2020 through the Lagos roll-on roll- off port and other seaports terminals in the country in order to fill the supply shortfall.

 

The importation of the vehicles declined by N222.27 billion or 22.1 per cent within one year. In 2021, the total value of imported used vehicles was N418.34 billion, while motorcycles was N367.39 billion. Also in 2020, the value of imported used vehicles into the country was N593 billion as motorcycle importation stood at N415.87 billion.

 

This month, Port and Terminal Multi-services Limited (PTML) and Five Star Logistics at Tincan Island Port will also take delivery of 2,150 units of used vehicles from six ships. The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)’s shipping data revealed that 300 units of the vehicles would be offloaded at Five Star Logistics terminal at the port, while 1,850 will be discharged at PTML between April 4 and 11, 2022.

 

The shipping data also revealed that Grande Atlantico will arrive on Monday with 350 units, followed by Grande Dakar with 400 units; Grande Luanda, 400 units; Grande Benin, 350 units and Grande Togo, 350 units. In February, four vessels berthed with 1,450 used vehicles at PTML.

 

The vessels include Grande Ghana with 350 units; Grande Cotonou, 400 units; Grande Cameroon, 350 units and Grande Sierra Leone, 350 units.

 

According to United State Census Bureau (USCB), America has been responsible for nearly half of Nigeria’s used truck shipments. It noted that the Mack brand is the most preferred imported vehicle due to its perceived ruggedness and durability.

 

The bureau explained that in 2020, United States exported $190 million trucks and buses to Nigeria, noting that this represented a remarkable rise from the $82 million and $105 million recorded in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

 

Also, data obtained from International Trade Administration (ITA) revealed that 734,659 units of used vehicles were imported into the country in 2017, while 1.22 million units were ferried in 2018, 1.3 million units in 2019 and one million units in 2020.

 

Although the imports reduced by 23.1 per cent in 2019 from 1.3 million units to one million units, the trade portal noted that total global vehicles importation into the country was $11.24 billion between 2018 and 2020, adding that the country received $2.24 billion used vehicles in 2018, $5.63 billion in 2019 and 2020 $3.37 billion. In 2020, the trade portal explained that the country imported 500,000 or half of the total imports from America.

 

It also explained that Nigeria imported $158 million vehicle parts and accessories or 40 per cent of used car  parts from the United States. Meanwhile, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has said that the United States has continued to export hundreds of thousands of its oldest and dirtiest cars to Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Togo and other poorer countries each year in a trade that is largely unregulated.

 

It noted that United States export of used cars abroad could stall the global reductions needed to stave off catastrophic warming, saying that vehicles, which would fail safety, fuel economy and emissions standards in the United States or Europe, were dominating the roads in Nigeria and other countries that rely on imported used vehicles.

 

The CBD Head of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign, Dan Becker, said: “In Kenya and Nigeria, for example, more than 90 per cent of vehicles are foreign imports.

 

The pollution and gas guzzling continue even after the vehicle is removed from American roads. “If left unchecked, the global trade in second hand cars could have bleak consequences for climate change, air quality and, by extension, public health.”