Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said yesterday that a new Vehicle Credit Finance Scheme to make new cars affordable to the ordinary Nigerian would be in place in the next four months as the details of the scheme is being worked out. The Minister said that the financing scheme is a combination of palliative measures, including partnering with banks towards having a common pool of funds for lending at concessionary interest rate of not more than 10 percent to potential car owners. He said it is only in Nigeria that cars are purchased on cash-and-carry basis.
With the new financing scheme, Nigerians will be able to buy new cars assembled in Nigeria at an interest rate of not more that 10 percent, repayable over a period of four years. Clearing the air on the effects of the ongoing implementation of the Nigeria Automotive Industrial Plan, NAIDP, Aganga said there will be no increase in the prices of cars. The Minister said: “The rumour that the Federal Government has increased the tariff on imported cars by 70 percent is incorrect and misleading. The Nigerian automotive manufacturers have already assured the government and all Nigerians that there is adequate stock of imported vehicles and that its members have not and will not increase the price of imported vehicles.”
He said that last year about 50,000 vehicles were imported at an estimated cost of $3 billion, while between January and June this year 37,000 vehicles were imported before the take off of the auto policy. He said: “Nigeria is the only country in the world where used vehicle were not banned following the introduction of the new automobile policy. “This is because President Goodluck Jonathan had taken into consideration current socio-economic conditions and would not want to come up with any policy that will inflict more hardship on Nigerians.”
Looks good on paper but let’s see how this plays out!