How ‘tokunbo’ tyres sacked Dunlop, Michelin out of Nigeria – SON


The Coordinator of Standard Organisation of Nigeria in Kwara, Mr Sunday Yashim, has said that the influx of fairly used tyres forced the two major tyre manufacturers in Nigeria, Dunlop and Michelin, to relocate to Ghana.


Yashim said SON is determined to rid Nigeria of imported fairly used and expired tyres.

Yashim made the commitment on Friday in Ilorin while speaking with newsmen after a raid on tyre shops where over 1, 000 tyres were confiscated.

“You can imagine the number of people that have lost their jobs as a result of the influx of used and expired tyres in the country,” he said.

The SON coordinator said that Nigeria had lost billions of naira to Ghana in taxes which these two companies were paying.

The raid on tyre shops was led by the SON coordinator, who was accompanied by men and officers of the Nigeria Police, Civil Defence and Federal Road Safety.

The operation was carried out in Sabo Oke, Maraba, Ajase Ipo Road and Offa Garage areas of Ilorin where three shops were sealed.

Yashim said SON embarked on the raid to rid the state of imported fairly used tyres.

“We want to ensure that “tokunbo tyres’’ are no longer used by any commercial vehicle or any vehicle at all; by so doing our tyre industry will be revived,” he said.

According to him, the majority of accidents on Nigerian roads are caused by expired tyres brought into the country illegally.

Yashim said that the risks associated with using expired tyres were many of which the common one was the loss of lives as a result of burst tyres on speed.

He said the tyres were not made for Nigerian weather, adding that in Europe where the tyres came from, there were three to four seasons and each season had specified tyres for it.

“In Europe, tyres are produced based on the seasons, for example, winter tyres will be used only for winter season after which they will be removed from the vehicle.

“Nigeria is in a tropical region, tyres meant for winter in Europe cannot be used in a tropical region like Nigeria.

“It will not last long and it is dangerous as our temperature will increase its pressure and burst,” he said.
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  1. SON is very unreasonable with the raid, you people have encouraged the patronage of the fairly used tyres by allowing the price of new once to be too larger than that of tokunbo.How many average Nigerians can afford the new tyres? More so if the government didn't want the fairly used tyres ab-initio it should have made it a policy for long and not now that some people are now major marketers of it. Reverse your decisions now because in the first place those two dealers Michelin and Donlop that have left for Ghana where they have better business experiences will never come back to Nigeria where power supply is lugubrious. Mind you #1000 = GHC13.9. Therefore Ghana is a better place for any business when related to international dollar market.

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  2. It is very shameful of the so called SON to leave the true reasons for Donlop and Michelin moving to Ghana.

    Is closure and relocation of Manufacturing Companies to Ghana only because of imported used Tyres? SON must be sleeping or incompetent of its duty.

    SON must study what to say before taking actions.

    Relocation of companies to Ghana does not affect only Tyres Manufacturing Companies, it affects our economy in general.

    Go to our INDUSTRIAL AREAS in Nigeria, one will see the truth. No country lives in DARKNESS and expects progress in Industry.

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