Trade Policy and the Nigerian Automobile Industry

The Nigeria's third Development Plan of 1975-1980 builds on what was envisaged under the Second Development Plan on building a viable automobile industry in Nigeria. A combination of tariff and non-tariff measures was put in place to ensure the survival and development of the industry. There was an envisaged gradual substitution of imported CKD with local input intake set to be achieved within specified timeframe and beyond. Unfortunately, as a result of trade policy inconsistencies, combined with other factors, up to the year 2000, the average local CKD consumption among firms in the industry was below 25 percent. Hence, the major problems the book tries to examine are the reasons and effects of low level of output, the poor performance of the CKD deletion programme, inability of the sector to link, learn and leverage on progress made in this vital economic sector globally.