Chidi Ugwu
20 May 2011
When in 1997 the American Federal Trade Commission lamented that auto parts counterfeiting accounts for a $12 billion of America’s annual business, little did anyone know that the development could have any direct bearing no Nigeria.
However, the dangers of fake automobile spare parts in the country was recently brought to the fore when stakeholders in the industry gathered to seek ways of curtailing its influx which has led to loss of thousands of lives and properties of Nigerians.
According to Nigeria Automotive Council (NAC), Nigeria ranks amongst those with the highest rate of road accidents in the world. And NAC said that statistics obtained from Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) reveal that 66 per cent of these road accidents are usually caused by either tyre or component failure mainly due to use of substandard parts.
Hence, stakeholders including automobile distributors, journalists as well as government agencies brainstormed at a seminar on ‘Impact of Fake Auto Parts’, organised by the Guild of Motoring Correspondents (GMC) of Nigeria to find ways to put a stop to the endemic trend in the automobile industry.
Delivering a paper entitled ‘Fake Auto Parts: Time for Genuine Action’ the Managing Consultant of Newsletters Limited, Dr. Oscar Odiboh urged every stakeholder to commence actions in the fight against fake parts.
He noted that in the current situation of low consumer awareness, the problems created by fake car parts are likely to linger for a long time to come if urgent action is not taken.
Specifically, Dr. Odiboh urged the Nigerian Automotive Council to sponsor the Automobile Spare Parts Bill at the National Assembly which would empower Nigerians to take legal actions against sellers of fake automobile parts.
“Fake parts selling should be criminalized and perpetrators should be jailed, if found guilty, such that anyone caught in the act should be tried in the court of law and if found guilty be sent to jail” he said.
According to him, to checkmate the trend, all automobile companies must be made to imbibe the culture of ensuring the availability of genuine parts prior to the importation or assembly of the new vehicles concerned.
And Government agencies should monitor such companies, especially the incoming ones, to ensure that they have enough genuine spare parts on ground before sales activities could commence. Spare Parts Business license and a displayable symbol of genuine parts should be issued to accredited sellers in order to monitor and seal off the premises used for the selling of fake auto spare parts.
He stated that a car is made up of an average of 14,000 parts and each one can be faked, adding that for each car part, there are an average six versions in Nigeria.
The managing Consultant, noted that the rise in the production and importation of fake parts have contributed to an unprecedented increase in the number of auto spare parts markets across the country including Benin, Kano, Yola, Gboko, Uyo, Ibadan and many others); and the expansion of existing ones (Onitsha, Ladipo, Aba, Ebute Metta, Calabar, among other cities.
He said Nigeria is losing industry an average of N500 million annually to local fabricators, faceless rebuilders and imitation importers.
Also, speaking at the occasion, the Director General Nigerian Automotive Council, (NAC), Dr. Aminu Jalal reiterated the need for education of relevant authorities on what constitute fake spare parts with a view to ensuring that only those that conform to the required standard are allowed into the country.
The Director General who was represented at the occasion by Mrs. Joke Onireti, said NAC in collaboration with Standards Organisation of Nigerian (SON) and other stakeholders adopted and adapted 92 automotive safety standards, adding that part of the agenda for the collaboration was to establish an automotive test centre.
Jalal blamed the influx of fake auto parts into the country on smuggling activities of unscrupulous traders adding that already SON’s MANCAP and SONCAP programmes were in place to check the ugly trend.
“To realize its twin statutory responsibility of ensuring the incorporation of local content in locally assembled vehicles and compliance of environmental and technical safety regulations, NAC is collaborating with SON to establish an Automotive Test Centre” he said.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of Hyra Motors, Mr. Seyi Oyinlola said the fight against fake auto spare parts boils down to consistent enlightenment of buyers and the end users of such parts. Oyinlola pointed out that these killer spare parts could find their way into Nigeria because our government allowed it.
He argued that Nigeria is not more viable terms of trade than the developed nations yet it is difficult to find these parts in such countries because of their stiff penalties to offenders and their ability to guard their borders against such parts.
Earlier Dr, Odiboh said there are three post-purchase issues which hinged mainly on the need for spare parts in the auto industry. These he identified as are genuineness, availability, affordability and longevity.
Genuiness refers to “original” spare parts sourced through the manufacturer or approved international agents. These parts are usually coded and produced with quality assurance marks such as embossment, engravement and imprints. They require months of maritime (sea freighting) preorder and the outer packaging are usually precise. All these determine the prices of genuine spare parts.
Spare parts that imitate the genuine ones make do with imprints, lacking embossments and engravements. Many imprints are not strong and therefore peel with time. Outer packages of imitations are hurriedly put together and sometimes lighter or heavier that the genuine ones.
In Nigeria, there are non-imitations spare parts such as used and imported tokunbos, locally rebuilt and reused ones. They are cheaper than the genuine and imitation spare parts.
Availability he said, is the ease with which a car owner or his technician could obtain the right parts, at the right time, and at the right place for maintenance services such as routine check-ups (involving the replacement of filters, plugs, brake pads, oil, etc) and major works (requiring the replacement of body parts, piston rings, shock absorbers, exhaust pipes, etc). When all these items are truly within reach, within the premises of the automobile company, then it could be said that the spare part is available. Many automobile companies in this category would use genuine parts.
Odiboh explained affordability as the ability of the car owner to pay the price being charges for the replaced parts, excluding the service fees. Before a part is removed, the service adviser is expected to let the customer know about it and the price implication of replacement. The customer has the right to demand to see the worn-out and replacement parts and confirm the genuineness and affordability of the latter. Some car owners intuitively determine the appropriateness of the spare parts’ price and conclude that it is too high or simply okay. Many car owners believe that the prices of genuine parts sold within the premises of established auto companies are expensive and therefore unaffordable.
While longevity is the length of time during which a particular car part should last and it is usually well stated in the manufacturer’s manual and warranty booklet. Many car owners do not care about the required lifespan of an automobile part as they do not bother to read their car manual. They wish each part would work forever as some even boast of how long their car plugs lasted.
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