With the implementation of the National Vehicle Registry Policy, or VREG, the Nigerian government has made efforts to stop the smuggling of automobiles into the nation known.
The Nigeria Customs Service, Vehicle Inspection Offices, the Police, National Central Vehicles Data, and the Federal Road Safety Corps’ database are just a few of the agencies whose vehicle data is integrated by VREG.
Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, promised yesterday’s attendees of the VREG Zonal Sensitization Campaign in Abuja that the program will stop car importers from evading customs duties.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance is tasked with overseeing the country’s finances and revenue streams,” he declared.
It became crucial that the government respond to these problems effectively in the face of declining revenue caused by dropping oil prices and a mono-economy made worse by revenue leaks from unplugged loopholes such customs duty payment fraud.
Moreover, despite Nigeria being the largest vehicle importer in Africa and having an additional 15 million vehicles operating there, there is a lack of a dynamic and centralized platform for national vehicular information.
The threats of customs duty evasion, a lack of data for the development of vehicular policies, nationwide vehicle administration for revenue leakages, vehicle theft and related crimes, difficulties enforcing traffic regulations, restricted access to credit facilities, and inadequate vehicle insurance coverage, monitoring, and evaluation had all been exacerbated by this enormous vacuum.
It is important to highlight that since the VREG’s establishment in 2021, a number of advantages have been realized, one of which is its use as a tool to reduce customs duty administration evasion.
“At this time, VREG has been able to integrate with the important stakeholders present in a seamless manner, and these connections have resulted in the exchange of dynamic, real-time information.”
