Zainab Ahmed: Nigeria imported 400,000 vehicles in 5 years

Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, says Nigeria imported an average of 400,000 vehicles in the last five years.

Ahmed said this during a sensitisation programme on the national vehicle registry (VREG) platform in Kano on Tuesday.

She said the VREG platform will curb import duty evasion and car theft.

The VREG was created by the ministry of finance, budget and national planning in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) in April 2020.

It was developed to tackle the security situation and evasion of customs duty payment of imported vehicles; as well as eliminate stolen, accident-wrecked and unsafe vehicles sales in the Nigerian market.

Ahmed, represented by Fatima Hayatu, director of technical services in the ministry of finance, said data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that an average of 400,000 vehicles were imported into Nigeria in five years.

“The NBS confirmed that between 2015 and 2020, Nigeria imported an average of 400,000 vehicles,” she said.

“An additional 40 percent of the vehicles are smuggled into the country annually.

“A case study revealed that Nigeria was the hub of stolen vehicles, as vehicle identification number (VIN) of vehicles in the country were usually unregistered.

“Consequently, vehicles within the shores of Nigeria cannot be traced.”

Ahmed said the VREG will address these challenges as the platform will provide reference vehicular data with a view of ascertaining ownership and value information.

According to her, it will also assist in ensuring accurate monitoring, documentation and tracking of vehicular activities across the country as well as enhance national security.

In his remarks, Uba Muhammad, NCS acting controller in charge of Zone B, said the VREG would enhance revenue generation as well as ensure the security of lives and property of Nigerians.

“This initiative suit in with E-Customs Project that will signal the beginning of end-to-end automation of NCS processes and procedures,” Muhammad said.

“It will also usher a new regime of total automation of all trans-border trade activities.”