Some members of the House of Representatives have expressed disagreement with the Federal Government’s decision to raise tariff payable on cars imported into the country.
The new tariff regime, fallout of the government’s Automotive Industrial Policy Development Plan, implies that Nigerians will pay heavier tariff on cars they import into the country than they are already doing.
The aim of the policy is to discourage imports, encourage production by local car assembly plants and drive the supply chain in the country.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, had indicated two weeks ago that the new tariff regime would kick off on October 4.
However, lawmakers failed to agree on the relevance of the policy on Wednesday in Abuja.
For example, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, observed that higher tariff on cars would be an added burden on “impoverished Nigerians.”
He also argued that there was nowhere in the world where the government would begin to tax its citizens ahead of a policy that had yet to take off.
The lawmaker said he expected that the assembly plants would have taken off and started supplying cars to the market before the government would begin to introduce measures to discourage imports.
Besides, Gbajabiamila opposed the idea of the government raising tariff by fiat without recourse to the National Assembly to put in place the necessary legal framework.
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