ABUJA – The Nigeria Automotive Industry Development Bill 2014 on Thursday scaled through second reading at the Senate.
The Committee on Trade and Investment was mandated at the end of plenary to appraise the bill and send it back to plenary within two weeks for further legislative action.
Senate President David Mark, who presided at the plenary, called on the Federal Government to put appropriate measures in place to ensure proper implementation of the bill.
He said, while the senate would not hesitate to pass the bill into law, it would only be meaningful if other factors that would ensure its implementation were put in place.
Mark reiterated that power supply, amongst other factors, should be addressed to ensure a vibrant industry, adding that no foreign investor would be prepared to invest without constant power supply.
“If any foreign investor is going to run on generator for 24 hours, he will never be able to compete in the international market.“
Mark explained that it was expedient to lay a solid foundation to sustain the bill when passed into law.
“I believe that implementation is very important and unless we get these other factors together, this bill will remain absolutely good on paper but in practice it is going to be very difficult to get it right.
“It is not a matter of producing rubber for Michelin, it is beyond that.
“ Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), which is in Kaduna today, was established at the same time with the one in Brazil and India. Today the equivalent in Brazil is building ships, aircraft, armoured cars; DICON in Nigeria is producing furniture,” he said.
While commending the Federal Government for its effort in repositioning the sector, he called for concerted effort to ensure that Nigeria competed favourably with China and other leading countries in automobiles.
The Senate Leader, Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba who proposed the debate on the bill, said it would develop a sustainable and competitive automotive industry in Nigeria when passed into law.
He also said the bill would create an enabling environment for existing assembly plants to survive and attract other original equipment manufacturers, particularly local content suppliers.
He said the bill would further institute incentives for the development of a Nigerian automotive component industry as well as revive the tyre industry.
Egba, who blamed the collapse of the automobile industry on importation of fairly used vehicles, said the industry was primarily limited to the assemblage of commercial vehicles.
“In 2012 for instance, N600 billion worth of automobiles were imported, three quarter of which were second hand.
“What the country really needs is car assembly and production facilities to fully tap into and benefit from the industry’s global potentials,’’ he said.
Supporting the bill, Sen. Ahmed Lawal (Yobe-North) said it was important to revive the iron and steel industry.
Lawal called for a policy that would mandate Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to patronise locally produced vehicles.
“I don’t believe that we should stop importation completely but MDAs must be forced by legislation or regulation to patronise locally produced vehicles. [eap_ad_1] “In the past, the MDAs were mostly using Peugeot and Volkswagen industries to produce cars. We can still do that.
“For Nigerians who can afford foreign cars, tariff on imported cars should be high to discourage many from purchasing them,’’ he said.
Similarly, Sen. Nuhu Zagbayi (PDP-Niger) said the bill was a laudable one that would revive the automotive industry in the country.
He called for the revival of the Ajaokuta Iron and Steel Company and other relevant companies to help implement the bill when passed into law.
“I support the bill but the fallout of passage into law will be the resuscitation of the steel industry, which will in turn create employment opportunities for Nigerians,“ he said.(NAN)
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