ABUJA: Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, disclosed that Nigeria has spent more than $6 billion in importation of cars.
Aganga, who spoke at the launching of National Repository Portal (NARP) in Abuja, maintained that automobile industry was a great tool for an economic and national development.
According to him, “Today Nigeria spends more than $6 billion importing car into the country. If we continue with this trend we will put pressure on the foreign reserve of the country which today we cannot afford to pay due to fall in oil price.
“The automobile industry is a great tool for the Industrial development in any nation,particularly in a developing country like Nigeria It is a big employer of labour and with extensive forward and backward linkages in the economy.
“Auto industry is a massive part of the economy. It has a high correlation between the economic growth, and development of the country. That is why all the large economic in the world particularly with a largest population develop this sector because the balance of payment is safe.”
He added, “The automotive policy was launched as part of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP). The NIRP aims to increase the contribution to our GDP by the manufacturing sector from 6.8% in 2014 to above 13% by 2017.
