Nigerians spent N509.8bn on Tokunbo cars in 9 months

However, the FG has only enforced the first phase of
35 per cent on used vehicles while it has fully
implemented the import tariff on brand new ones.
The over half a trillion Naira figure used in importing
used vehicles was gleaned from the foreign trade in
goods statistics published by the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS) recently. The vehicles came mainly
from the United States, Canada, Belgium, Germany
and Italy.
The trade statistics revealed that N148.28 billion was
spent importing used vehicles into the country in the
first quarter of 2019. The US was Nigeria’s main
importation hub, accounting for over 61% of the total
market share with about N90.8 billion spent on used
cars from the country alone. The balance of N58
billion was spent on vehicles from other countries.
Of the N148 billion, N117.46 billion was spent on
vehicles with 2,500cc cylinder capacity while the
remaining amount went to importing vehicles with
1,500cc cylinder capacity.
The trend was in no way different in Q2 2019 although
the value of importation rose to N177.34 billion.
The US dominated with N114.9 billion or 64.8% of the
total import value spent on importing Tokunbo vehicles
from the country. Italy followed with N6.3 billion,
Belgium had N4.1 billion spent on importing its used
vehicles while other countries shared the balance of
N52.04 billion between them.
N146.95 billion was spent on vehicles with 2,500cc
cylinder capacity in Q2 2019 while the remaining
N30.39 billion went to vehicles with 1,500cc cylinder
capacity.
The value of importation of used cars for Q3 2019
stood at N184.18 billion. The US again took the
biggest market share, accounting for N120.6 billion or
65.5% of the money spent on used vehicles. Italy took
N6.3 billion, Belgium N4.3 billion, Germany N3.9
billion and Canada N3.9 billion.
Other countries accounted for the balance of N35.18
billion.