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Economic pressures are hitting Nigeria’s used vehicle market hard, with imports of diesel and semi-diesel engine vehicles—those with a cylinder capacity of 2500cc—plunging by 65.8 percent year-on-year.
The numbers tell the story: in 2024, the value of these imports dropped to ₦354.8 billion, a steep fall from N1.04 trillion in 2023. It’s not just tough times driving this decline; importers are also grappling with steadily rising duties, levies, and taxes that have made bringing in these vehicles a costly affair.
A closer look at the National Bureau of Statistics’ Foreign Trade in Goods data reveals a rocky year. The first quarter of 2024 was a complete washout—no imports of used vehicles were recorded at all. Things picked up in the second quarter with N110.54 billion, nudging up by 11.9 percent to N123.77 billion in the third quarter. But the momentum fizzled out by the fourth quarter, slipping 2.6 percent to N120.49 billion.
This isn’t a new complaint. Back in July 2023, Ports and Terminal Multipurpose Limited pointed the finger at high import duties and taxes, blaming them for a 60 percent drop in vehicle imports during the first half of 2024.
Read also: Dangote Restarts US Crude Imports After Three-Month Halt
Fast forward to February 2025, and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) stepped in with a plan, offering vehicle owners a chance to settle their duties within a set period to dodge penalties.
More recently, the federal government rolled out a 90-day grace period to sort out import duties on certain vehicle categories. Abdullahi Maiwada, the NCS National Public Relations Officer, framed it as a practical step to boost compliance and smooth out the import process. “We’re giving people a clear window to get their paperwork and payments in order,” he said.
The process involves valuing vehicles based on their Vehicle Identification Number, with owners required to pay the standard duty plus a 25 percent penalty, all aligned with the 2013 Destination Inspection Scheme and the NCS Act of 2023. A specific procedure code has even been set up to handle these payments.
