The federal government has opened talks with three banks in Nigeria to facilitate the establishment of single-digit interest loans for buyers of new vehicles being assembled in Nigeria.
The director-general, national automotive design and development council, Mr Jelani Aliyu, who stated this in Lagos while speaking with journalists explained that discussions were already at an advanced stage.
Mr. Jelani stated the federal government is already at the stage of finalising the agreement in terms of the moa– memorandum of agreement” adding that the deal would be finalised by the end of the current quarter.
The NADDC dg said auto manufacturers would need to meet certain conditions to be part of the deal such as only vehicles assembled in Nigeria could be sold under the arrangement; provision of after-sale network and spare parts among others.
Reports say since the government increased the import duty on vehicles from 22 per cent to 70 per cent about four years ago, prices of automobiles have risen astronomically. This has adversely affected the number of vehicles being sold annually in Nigeria, with the figure of new vehicles dropping from about 50,000 units in 2012 to 18,000 units in 2014 and less than 10,000 in 2018