Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A Rivers State, Port Harcourt-based tractor, heavy machinery and farm implements manufacturer is said to be considering an immediate relocation to Rwanda or some other African Countries that have been wooing them and having more conducive business atmosphere for tractor and heavy machinery manufacturing. The manufacturer, Bobtrack Tractor Limited, which has an annual capacity of 6,000 tractors and a Port Harcourt factory said to be 80 percent ready, confirmed that the Federal Government’s new duty-free import policy for tractors and electric vehicles has made its survival in Nigeria nearly impossible. In an exclusive interview, Ibifri A.C. Bobmanuel, Managing Director of Bobtrack Tractor Limited and President of the Rivers Entrepreneurs and Investors Forum (REIF), told BusinessDay that the company’s near‑completed plant and its Nasarawa State facility for the Northern market are now at risk because the new tax law has removed the competitive edge that local manufacturing once had.
The new import regime, which took effect at the beginning of 2026 as part of the Nigeria Tax Act and supporting fiscal policy measures, grants zero percent import duty on agricultural and manufacturing machinery, including tractors, as well as on electric vehicles. The government has argued that the policy is designed to lower the cost of mechanisation for farmers, combat inflation, and stimulate industrial growth. However, domestic producers have reacted with alarm, warning that the duty‑free importation of products already available locally amounts to a state‑subsidised attack on home‑grown industry. Bobmanuel confirmed that the company’s tractors and farm implements are already found in most leading mechanised farms in Nigeria and that the firm is about to launch its own line of electric cars, supported by a new factory that integrates both tractor and EV production. “All of these plans could be undermined by a single policy decision,” he said, adding that Bobtrack products are cheaper than imported ones and of far better quality. Removing import duty, he warned, strips away the price advantage that locally manufactured goods depend on.
The company is not without options. Bobmanuel disclosed that Rwanda has made a compelling offer, including up to 15 to 20 years of protectionist agreements and substantial concessions to help the firm establish and scale before facing open competition. “Maybe we’ll begin to think out of the box or out of the country and see how we could survive. This is because we had an offer from Rwanda, a blank cheque, where they asked us to come over to Rwanda to set up,” Bobmanuel said. The Rwandan government has a history of aggressive industrial wooing. In 2023, President Paul Kagame personally directed the procurement of Bobtrack’s 120‑horsepower multi‑purpose tractors assembled in Port Harcourt, recognising their suitability for African terrain. Now, that same tractor manufacturer is being invited to relocate its entire operation to Rwanda.
The risk of losing a major indigenous heavy machinery manufacturer comes at a time when Nigeria’s agricultural mechanisation drive relies heavily on local supply. The Bobtrack factory in Port Harcourt, once completed, would have an annual capacity of 6,000 tractors, while the Nasarawa facility, operating within the premises of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), assembles equipment for the Northern market. Together, these plants represent hundreds of jobs, significant investment, and a strategic capability that Nigeria has spent years trying to build. The removal of import duties, Bobmanuel argued, makes foreign tractors cheaper at the point of entry than locally produced units, even though the local units are already cheaper than imports and of higher quality.
Industry stakeholders have warned that the policy could trigger an exodus of local manufacturers, with broader implications for industrialisation, employment, and food security. Bobmanuel was blunt: “Should Nigerian manufacturers begin to move out of Nigeria, jobs are going to be lost in droves. And not just jobs being lost in droves, we would waste a whole lot of our effort.” He also dismissed the government’s expectation that lower import duties would attract foreign tractor manufacturers to set up plants in Nigeria. “No tractor manufacturing company in Europe or in America or in China will sell you 100 tractors and you think you’ve done something big to them that they would come and set up in Nigeria. Nobody does that because of the size of their market, and they understand the importance of agriculture,” he said, pointing to China’s policy of banning even the export of cultivated products as evidence of how seriously other nations take agricultural self‑sufficiency.
The Rivers State government has not yet issued a public statement on the matter. The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment also did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, the Nigeria Tax Act, which came into effect on 1 January 2026, is a consolidated framework that has replaced multiple earlier tax laws. One of its provisions, supported by the 2026 Fiscal Policy Measures, approved zero import duties on a wide range of industrial goods, including agricultural and manufacturing machinery. For local producers like Bobtrack, the policy effectively penalises investment in domestic production while subsidising foreign competitors. As one industry analyst summarised, the government is offering tax concessions to importers while removing the protection that local manufacturers had counted on.
The irony is that Bobtrack Tractors are already world‑class. The company’s products are reportedly found as hot cake in China and the United States, but still blocked from entering those markets by non‑tariff barriers. Yet, as Bobmanuel lamented, the Federal Government of Nigeria is opening the doors for dumping through free‑duty imports. “Some of the governors travel abroad to buy 50 or 100 tractors and see it as a big deal,” he said. “But no tractor manufacturing company in Europe or in America or in China will sell you 100 tractors and you think you’ve done something big to them that they would come and set up in Nigeria. Nobody does that because of the size of their market.”
Bobtrack’s possible departure would be a painful loss for Nigeria’s industrial aspirations. The company has built a facility in the heart of Port Harcourt, created jobs, trained workers, and is on the verge of launching electric cars – a sector the government claims to want to develop. Rwanda, by contrast, has offered a clear pathway: protection for up to two decades, a stable policy environment, and a government that treats local manufacturing as a strategic asset rather than an impediment to cheap imports. Bobmanuel confirmed that the firm is now seriously considering the offer. “Maybe we’ll begin to think out of the box or out of the country and see how we could survive,” he said. For the Nigerian government, the question is whether it will listen before the last tractor rolls out of Port Harcourt for the final time.
📩 Stone Reporters News | 🌍 stonereportersnews.com
✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
Add comment
Comments