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Nigerians may now acquire brand new vehicles with ease under a new ownership scheme designed by the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) to help reduce high dependency on imported used cars as a result of the high cost of acquiring new ones.
The new deal allows aspiring vehicles’ owners to obtain soft loans at no more than 6% interest rates from a number of partner-banks.
The Automotive Vehicle Finance Scheme is scheduled to be officially launched by the federal government later in June, according to Director General of NADDC, Mr. Jelani Aliyu. What this means is that more Nigerians may now be able to buy more Nigerian-made vehicles at extremely low interest rates compared to the existing 20% to 28 % interest rates at which banks offer vehicle loans largely for brand new imported vehicles.
“We are doing market development and as you are aware, in a number of countries, when you buy a vehicle, you have to put down 10 or 15 per cent and you drive home with the vehicle for a number of years.
“But that is technically not available in Nigeria. Where you do have vehicle financing is in the high-interest rate of 20% or 28%,” said Aliyu.
He said the NADDC was kick-starting the scheme with three commercial banks as partners to facilitate the vehicle loans scheme to eligible Nigerians once the beneficiary makes an initial deposit of 10 per cent of the total cost of the vehicle. The loan will attract only 6% interest rate, said Aliyu this week at the NADDC office in Abuja while inspecting the Honda HR-V which made a new market entry in Nigeria.
In an earlier interview with IT Edge News, Aliyu said the Automotive Vehicle Finance Scheme is within the framework of the National Automotive Industrial Development Plan (NAIDP) which include a number of policy measures designed to help revitalise the local auto industry with high local content and a feed market supported by a loan scheme that allows high buying ability by auto consumers. The expansive value chain also envisages job creation, skill building and technology skill impact for thousands of Nigerians.
Only vehicles manufactured in Nigeria are entitled to benefit from the vehicle loan support scheme.
