Nigeria’s spending on importation of motorcycles fell to N212.64 billion in 2022 representing a 42 per cent increase from N367.39 billion spent in 2021.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report which also showed that the importation bill on motorcycles fell quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) by 22 per cent to N46.43 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022 (Q4’22) from N59.63 billion in Q3’22.
Vanguard analysis of NBS data showed that import bills on motorcycles stood at N74.6 billion in Q1’22, import bill. But in Q2’22 import bills of motorcycles fell quarter-on-quarter by 57 percent to N31.98 billion.
The downward trend was reversed in Q3 ’22 as import bill on motorcycles rose by 86 percent to N59.63 billion and down by 22 percent to N46.43 billion in Q4’22.
The Lagos government had, in May, banned the operations of commercial motorcycles in six Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state which consisted of Ikeja, Surulere, Eti Osa, Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island and Apapa and later extended the ban to four more LGAs Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Shomolu, and Mushin. The government announced that the ban was indefinite and total.
Over 2000 motorcycles of defiant riders were seized on the authorized date.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, noted that about 5,000 motorcycles had earlier been crushed in Q1’22.
However, the Director of Public Affairs of Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit, Mr. Gbadeyanka Raheem, said in a report last year that 7,548 bikes were destroyed in the state in 2022.
