These flip flops will floor the economy

IT appears General Douglas Macarthur’s counsel to leaders to refrain from giving orders that cannot be obeyed does not make much sense to Nigerian leaders going by the decision of the government to ban the importation of both new and used vehicles through land borders.

The Nigeria Customs Service had last Monday, through a statement by its spokesperson, intimated the country with its decision to prohibit the importation of vehicles into the country through land borders with effect from January 1, 2017.

Ordinarily, given the government’s expressed intendment of protecting the local automotive industry, the policy decision should be attended by resounding applause by many Nigerians. But the truth is that with the new policy directive, the government has abandoned the substance and is expending its energy on pursuing shadows. Had the 2013 Automotive Act been properly implemented, there would be no need to travel this route of banning the importation of vehicles through land borders. The auto policy prescribes the imposition of 70 per cent tariff on all imported cars, both old and new. However, rather than the government giving this policy full force of enforcement, it has only partially implemented it. Only importers of brand new cars are made to pay 70 per cent of the cost of the vehicles as import duty, while importers of used vehicles pay only 35 per cent.

Now, if the government fails to keep its own law how does it expect the people to comply with its directives?

The ban on importation of vehicles through land borders will not produce any worthwhile result. The same fate that has befallen the ban on importation of rice through land borders awaits this new directive.

Earlier in the year, the government prohibited the importation of rice through land borders as a result of its desire to protect the country’s local industry, enhance national food security and stave off the importation of substandard rice which has health implications for the people. But in spite of these lofty intentions, imported rice which comes in through land borders has continued to flood our markets. The prohibition order has not reduced the influx. The only thing is that the prohibition has enriched many Customs officers and furthered the pauperization of the majority of the people as they have to pay more for rice because of the difficulty that the smugglers encounter to get it into the country.

So, the ban on vehicle importation through land borders will precipitate a hike in the prices of vehicles but it will not stop vehicles coming in through land borders for a number of reasons. One, the land borders are so porous that there is virtually nothing that cannot be smuggled into the country. And one thing about most people is that if there is a chance of succeeding in an enterprise, attempt would be made irrespective of the difficulties that may be placed on the way. So, vehicles would be brought into the country through the many illegal and unmanned routes that lead into the country from the neighbouring countries.

Then, because the ban by the government would be tested by desperate smugglers, an opportunity would be created for Customs officers attached to these routes to make easy money by looking the other way while these vehicles are brought into the country. So, this policy initiative will not solve the problem that the government wants to make us think it is meant to solve. There would be motion but there will not be any movement towards the expected goal. At the end of the day, the government would have failed to achieve its aim and it would also have lost much needed revenue in the process.

Instead of coming up with this new policy, the government should have studied what happened with the rice policy. If rice still gets into the country despite the ban, the government should have realized that it would be practically impossible to stop the smuggling of vehicles into the country. Although some of the errand boys may be caught and jailed, it is a safe bet that the real people behind the smuggling will always escape arrest.

While it is not in the interest of the country to lose revenue to other countries through importation, what sense is there in creating unwholesome opportunities for Nigerians to fleece their fellow countrymen? This is where the challenge is really. I see intellectual laziness in government. Policies are not subjected to rigorous interrogation before being unleashed on the people; hence their failure. For as long as we approach policy issues with mental laziness, we tell the world that we belong to the Stone Age. Since Stone Age strategies cannot work in the modern times that we are in, our economy will remain prostrate.