Nissan Group director of sales and operations for Africa, Jim Dando has urged African countries to ban the importation of second-hand vehicles.
Dando argued that Africa should manufacture its vehicles that are suitable for Africa, which in turn creates jobs and accelerate the continent’s industrialisation.
The Nissan boss argued that the second-hand vehicles were never intended for African roads or fuel quality. He said:
We end up with ostensible mobility solutions that in reality are bad for the health of our people, both in terms of the damage they do to the environment and the risk they pose for both passengers and drivers.
The only sustainable solution for Africa is to clean up the fuel quality, ban the importation of second-hand vehicles and create Africa’s indigenous automotive sector, producing harmonised vehicles that are fit for Africa.
This will create jobs directly, fast track the industrialisation of the continent and change the many economies that are still largely resource-based.