NAC: tricycle popularly called “Keke Napep” in local parlance are still being imported
National Automotive Council of Nigeria, NAC, though the organisation is 24 years old. Its mandate is to harness resources to enhance local manufacturing of vehicles in Nigeria.
The best it has done in those years is the collection of billions of Naira for the Auto Fund from the 2 per cent duty (cost, insurance, freight) that is paid on every car that is imported into the country.
One of their functions is to develop local content, sensitize Nigerians to make automobiles but Keke Napep and Okadas are still being imported.
NAC is hardly known for any meaningful contributions to the growth of the automobile industry. NAC has not supported the efforts of individuals who designed vehicles that would have helped in cutting down the billions of Naira
Nigeria spent on importation of vehicle. Instead, it is working on its own car that it says would be ready by 2017. In 2008 when about 37,000 cars were sold in the country, almost all imported, NAC made more than N1 billion from duties.
What does it do with the money it has been collecting since 1993? How has NAC helped the local automobile industry over the years?
