40% of smuggled vehicles in Nigeria are stolen – Finance Minister

The Federal Government yesterday said 40 per cent of smuggled vehicles that find their way into the country are smuggled.

This is aside the fact that 45 per cent of the vehicles that enter the country are smuggled annually.

To address this menace, the government has launched pilot phase of the new National Vehicle Registry (VERG) automated gateway portal in Lagos State.

It is intended to increase national revenue, curb smuggling and other criminal activities.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, spoke at the grand finale of the sensitization seminar on VERG in Abuja.

The finance minister lamented that a case study found that Nigeria was the hub of stolen vehicles as VIN of vehicles in the country were usually unregistered, consequently, vehicles within the shores of Nigeria cannot be traced.

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