Nigeria’s proposed National Automotive Industry Bill 2026 must provide stronger investment protection, predictable tariffs, and local-content incentives to restrict the importation of used vehicles if the country is to attract long-term investment into vehicle and component manufacturing, industry stakeholders have said.

The demands were made at a stakeholders’ engagement on the draft Bill organised by the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) in Lagos.

The proposed legislation is expected to replace the existing legal framework for the automotive sector and transform NADDC into the National Automotive Design and Development Commission, while providing statutory backing for policies under the Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP).

Chairman of the Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA), Bawo Omagbitse, said the legislation should be designed primarily as an industrialisation framework, rather than a regulatory instrument.

He said policymakers must determine whether the bill would make local vehicle and component manufacturing more commercially attractive than importing finished products.

Omagbitse said the automotive industry had strong linkages with steel, aluminium, plastics, rubber, glass, batteries, electronics, chemicals, engineering, logistics, finance, ICT, technical education and research.

He added: “There should be no industrial incentive without industrial performance and no industrial performance obligation without predictable government support.”

He also urged the government to establish an Automotive Tariff and Industrial Protection Framework that would clearly distinguish among fully built vehicles, semi-knocked-down and completely knocked-down kits, and locally manufactured components.

Also, the company’s Divisional Manager, Sales and Customer Service, Olabade Badejo, said Nigeria needed significantly higher volumes of new vehicle sales to make large-scale manufacturing economically viable.

Badejo disclosed that Honda had submitted 34 recommendations and proposed amendments to the draft bill.

He said annual new vehicle sales remained below 30,000 units, while imported used, scrapped, and unroadworthy vehicles run into hundreds of thousands.

He posited that the continued inflow of such vehicles weakened demand for locally manufactured products and discouraged fresh investment.

“No major investment will be attracted if the Nigerian Government or this Bill does not prohibit used, scrapped, unroadworthy vehicle importations,” he said.

Badejo also cited Honda’s historical investments in Nigeria, including welding, painting, machining and assembly facilities established at Ota in the late 1970s.

He attributed the decline of some manufacturing investments to policy reversals and inconsistencies, urging the proposed law to provide protection against future policy instability.

Also, Executive Director, Motorcycle Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Lambert Ekewuba, proposed a substantial tariff advantage for locally produced parts over imported alternatives and zero per cent import duty on Complete Knock-Down (CKD) kits for assembly plants that have invested in backward integration.

The association also sought predictable regulation, practical local-content pathways and measures to protect consumers and responsible investors.

In his comment, the Director-General of NADDC, Oluwemimo Osanipin, said the bill was intended to address longstanding uncertainty in the automotive sector.

He explained that Nigeria needed a modern legal framework capable of supporting electrification, advanced manufacturing, local content and regional trade integration.

Osanipin identified policy inconsistency, legislative gaps and outdated laws as factors that had discouraged long-term investment in the sector.

The NADDC boss urged stakeholders to scrutinise the draft and identify provisions that could either support investment or create bottlenecks.