NASS Targets Nigeria’s Dependence On Imported Vehicles, Vows To Fast-Track Auto Industry Bill

The National Assembly has moved to strengthen Nigeria’s automotive manufacturing sector and reduce the country’s dependence on imported vehicles.

The legislature declared that Nigeria could no longer afford to serve as a dumping ground for foreign used vehicles.

The Senate Committee on Industry also pledged to fast-track the proposed National Automotive Industry Bill 2026, saying the legislation would protect investments in local vehicle assembly, promote local content, and help conserve the country’s foreign exchange.

The committee chairman, Senator Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi, committed yesterday when the members and officials of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), inspected PAN Nigeria Limited’s facilities in Kaduna.

Fadahunsi, a retired customs officer, said his experience had exposed the significant economic losses associated with the continued importation of used foreign vehicles, particularly their impact on Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.

“Nigeria has become a dumping ground. So we have to reject it,” he said.

To him, the Federal Government needed to create stronger incentives for Nigerians to patronise locally manufactured vehicles, arguing that Nigerian engineers had demonstrated the capacity to produce vehicles and other means of transportation suited to local conditions.

According to him, the committee’s inspection found that locally produced vehicles and tricycles could serve as viable alternatives to imported vehicles and tricycles.

“Today, the Federal Government will be aware that there are better alternatives that Nigerian engineers can produce, to ameliorate all these imported vehicles, imported tricycles that are being used by the rural population,” he said.

Fadahunsi said the PAN facility, which occupies almost 300,000 square metres, remained an important national industrial asset capable of contributing significantly to employment, economic growth and affordable transportation if its capacity was fully utilised.

He noted that the company could employ more than 3,000 people at full production capacity, while its training facilities had produced about 12,000 artisans nationwide, including roadside mechanics, forklift operators and other technicians.

The senator appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to strengthen government support for the automotive industry, warning that continued dependence on imported vehicles would worsen pressure on Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.

“Mr President, you should know the gravity of this, the drain on our foreign reserve caused by this particular product,” he said.

He further pledged the National Assembly’s cooperation in ensuring the speedy passage of the proposed automotive industry legislation.

“On this note, we pledge our cooperation with you, and we ensure that we do everything within our powers to accelerate legislation on the Bill,” Fadahunsi said.

Earlier, Managing Director of PAN Nigeria Limited, Mrs Taiwo Oluleye, said the company, established in 1972 and which commenced operations in 1975, had an installed annual production capacity of 90,000 vehicles but had witnessed declining production due to high operating costs, exchange rate pressures, high borrowing costs, and policy inconsistencies.

She said PAN had previously achieved 40 per cent local content when the industry enjoyed a more favourable policy environment, but added that local content had now fallen to below four per cent.

Oluleye appealed to the National Assembly to urgently legislate the proposed bill, arguing that local assemblers could not compete effectively with businesses that simply imported completely built vehicles.

“We appeal to you by this visit that you review and legislate. The legislation of this policy will protect investment and develop local production as opposed to importation of vehicles,” she said.

Also speaking, the Director-General of NADDC, Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin, said the inspection had demonstrated that Nigeria possessed significant capacity to meet a substantial proportion of its domestic vehicle demand through local assembly.

“What we have seen here is evidence that we have the capacity,” Osanipin said.