As Nigeria continues to exist without a law guiding the automotive sector to attract investors and enable citizens to purchase new cars with ease and affordable prices, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that Nigerians have continued to rely on used cars from the United States of America (USA) as cheaper alternatives. Analysis of data on foreign trade reports conducted by the NBS from 2017 to 2022 indicates that Nigerians prefer cars from the US, as from the N2.5trn of the commodity imported into the country, N1.8trn was imported from the US alone. A breakdown of the figure for the commodity labeled “Used Vehicles, with diesel or semi-diesel engine, of cylinder capacity >2500cc” indicate that in 2017, N96bn of it was imported from the US out of a total of N145bn. In 2018, from the N269bn imported into the country, N180bn was from the US. The figure further rose to N455bn in 2019 from a total of N580bn during the year. In 2020, N529bn of the commodity was imported from the US, out of the total of N718bn imported. But the figure dropped to N399bn in 2021 for the commodity imported from the US, while the total was N617bn.
Daily Trust