Influx of fake auto spare parts taints Nigerian market

When it comes to automotive spare-parts, most motorists, who bear the pain of fake products in Nigeria, believed that unless government tightens efforts on counterfeit products like other developed countries, boosting investment and growth of indigenous technology, protection of consumers may remained an illusion.

Government agency charged with the responsibility of ensuring standardisation of products in the country, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) had said that 95 per cent of auto spare parts imported into the country do not meet the minimum acceptable standard, while a more recent figure estimated that about 75 per cent of auto spare parts in the country were fake.

With replete effects in road crashes, loss of lives and properties, huge healthcare cost and others, “identifying counterfeit parts and educating the populace of its effects is a challenge that (Nigeria) government is faced with and will require the cooperation of all stakeholders to achieve”, Director General, National Automotive Design and
Development Council (NADDC), Aminu Jalal said.

In fact, according to a paper on “The Adverse Effects of use of Substandard/Fake Spare Parts in Motor vehicles – The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Perspective”, delivered by the agency’s Corps Marshal, Boboye oyeyemi, as of 2010, Nigeria loses about N80 billion yearly to road crashes, with about 29.1 per cent of the victims suffering disability and 13.5 per cent unable to return to work.

According to the Nigeria Road Safety Strategy document, the economic loss of about three per cent of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of developing countries made Nigeria in 2014 alone lose N1.7trillion, which was then equivalent of $10billion.

Though all road crashes were not attributed to fake products, the cost of road traffic crashes includes the cost of private property and public amenities damaged, the cost of medical treatment and the cost of productivity lost due to the crash.

World Health Organisation, (WHO) estimated that across the world, 36,000 yearly fatalities and 1.5 million injuries were result of defective counterfeit parts.

In a recent stakeholder meeting organised by NADDC to discuss identification of fake and sub-standard automotive spares, experts worried over the alarming yearly loss the nation accrue from counterfeit vehicle spare parts, noting that current efforts being put in place by government may not make meaning reduction.The influx of the product has equally been estimated to kill local industries, specifically, the federal government’s automotive policy.

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) had blamed the collapse of many auto parts manufacturing industries on the sudden large amount of sub-standard parts that flood the domestic market.

Deputy Director, Surveillance and Enforcement, Consumer Protection Council (CPC) Shamm Kolo, said: “If the influx and sale of standard auto parts remain unchecked, it will continue to militate against the aspirations of government to promote Nigeria into the league of industrialised nations by 2020.”

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which holds the statutory responsibility as a key agency involved in controlling the importation and exportation of goods said the body has been confronted with challenges that reduced efforts on the importation of fake automotive spare parts into the country.

According to the agency in a paper titled “The Role of Nigeria Customs Service and The Need for Synergy with other Relevant Stakeholders in the Prevention of Importation of Sub-Standard or Fake Spare Parts’’, the suppression of smuggling is difficult because of many factors and measures encouraging and sustaining it.

Citing instances of smuggling activities and porous borders, NCS lamented that its operations were crippled by “poor funding, weak legislation, low level of compliance and tacit support of smuggling by host border communities”.

However, President of Auto Spare Parts and Machineries Dealers Association (ASPMDA), Anthony Ughagwu said information that large chunk of automotive spare parts imported into the country were fake is a gross misconception.

“I am emphatically rejecting the misconception that 75 per cent of Auto Spare Parts in Nigerian markets are fake or sub-standard and that majority of accident in Nigeria where due to fake or sub-standard products in Nigeria auto spare parts markets.

“I urge the government to encourage big time importers with respect to policies and foreign exchange regimes. This will assure them sense of belonging and reduce the drifts to importation of sub-standard products.

“Also I will equally like government to help big time importers to bring down their foreign partners in Nigeria, by providing funds and other logistics as done in other countries of the world, this will not only cut down the volume of the importation, it will also provide job opportunities, and make it more easier for regulatory bodies to monitor the production from the on-set to the sales of those products”, Ughawu said.

Oyeyemi said: “Nigeria requires the active collaboration of the manufacturing, regulatory and enforcement organisations, working closely with spare parts sellers, the mass media and the general public in surmounting the malaise of spare parts counterfeiting, this is towards maintaining standards, improving quality of life and preventing avoidable traffic crashes.”

SON stated that its Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme, SONCAP was specifically designed to address the challenge, believing that the effort would reduce the huge gap.
According to NDDC, collaboration with (SON) “has within the last seven years adopted and adapted about 130 international automotive standards for safety and other parts.