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Did America & Europe Bribed Nigeria Government To Change To Left Hand Cars - Car Talk - Nairaland

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Did America & Europe Bribed Nigeria Government To Change To Left Hand Cars by Joel3(m): 6:26pm On Sep 26, 2017
the reason why Nigeria changed to left hand drive.


political lobby and interest. its likely that the USA or Germany lobby the Nigeria government to switch from right to left.

after Nigeria got independence in 1960 shortly after there was civil war.. before the war ended in 1970. during those years Nigeria bought all it right hand cars from great Britain brand new.

Nigeria change from right-hand drive in 1972. The specific date is April 2, 1972. Nigeria's government felt that it needed to change from right-hand driving to further illustrate it's independence from the British. this was a costly mistake by people with no brains.

this move was seen from a selfish interest perspective and not what it says. many people believed that there might by lobby or political interest at a time Nigeria doesn't have standard and any country standard can be use in the country instead of our colonial standard.

USA and Germany have grave yard of unused and unsold cars at that time. so they are looking for a dumping ground which Africa was a perfect place and Nigeria was a suitable place for it. i was opportune to be in India and Indians are till using right hand drive till date. one thing i notice is that Indians don't import used cars from anywhere like we do here. its all brand new so over the years as a result of this, Toyota, Honda and other auto mobile brand are forced to build their plant in India. you can call it assembly plant if you like but this has created industries that can produce any type of motor parts and supplied it to the cars manufactures with government standard and backing. they also have indigenous car manufactures one of them is tata. the used cars over there are India used. because of their good roads and good premium motor spirit or gas this used cars are still clean like the ones we import from USA and Europe.


the year Nigeria changed from right hand to left hand, shortly the naira was introduced on 1 January 1973, replacing the pound at a rate of 2 naira = 1 pound.

the pressure was also coming to devalued our currency further and the inflation rate keep on widening and the economy was in shambles. people could no longer afford brand new cars again. then all of a sudden Nigeria was turned into a dumping ground by Americans and Europeans for their used automobiles.

buying a new car is now out of reach due to inflation gap and weak naira.

everything happened just after the war ends. we really cant tell if its the things gowan agreed or signed with world power to help Nigeria fought the war against the Biafra states. but we got it all wrong after the war.


to be continue.
Re: Did America & Europe Bribed Nigeria Government To Change To Left Hand Cars by Niyeal(m): 6:53pm On Sep 26, 2017
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Re: Did America & Europe Bribed Nigeria Government To Change To Left Hand Cars by LionDeLeo: 7:09pm On Sep 26, 2017
Abeg, left hand drive rocks, you don't need to be bribed for that.

I don't even understand how those right hand countries are comfortable with their drivings.

Most times, after bargaining with cab drivers, I make mistakes of heading to the driver sides (right). grin

A driver even wondered if I had wanted to drive grin. Lol.

Drive for country wey I no too sabi without international driving licence. cheesy
Re: Did America & Europe Bribed Nigeria Government To Change To Left Hand Cars by Ovamboland(m): 7:10pm On Sep 26, 2017
Ignoramus, most of the vehicle assembly plants in Nigeria was established after we switched to driving on the left. They collapsed because they were not matured enough to survive the shrinking of our economy due to oil price crash of the early 80s.

Just like now due to oil price crash most people think of basic survival first before brand new car.

A lot of used right hand drive cars from UK still get dumped here. Only to be converted.

It's us as a people and the kind of policy our government makes. It has nothing to do with which side of the road you drive, the name you call your currency, Germany or USA.

Zimbabwean dollar became worthless even by retaining the name dollars

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Re: Did America & Europe Bribed Nigeria Government To Change To Left Hand Cars by diportivo: 8:41pm On Sep 26, 2017
Silly reportage

Loads and loads of trash

undecided
Re: Did America & Europe Bribed Nigeria Government To Change To Left Hand Cars by timifakay(m): 8:50pm On Sep 26, 2017
Recycling can nullify the need to export used cars.
Are you trying to say the value of naira dropped due to excessive importation?
We are a consumer nation that can't generate enough electricity to power industries...


In olden feudal and violent times all the societies preferred left hand convention. It offered various advantages if one was right handed. One could -

keep right weapon wielding hand closer to the opponent and scabbard away from him.
avoid inconvenience of bumping into someone else's scabbard
mount/dismount on horse easily. Since right handed men mount horse from the left (since scabbard is on left) keeping on left allowed one to dismount on edge of the road....
Source: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-reason-behind-left-hand-drive-and-right-hand-drive-in-different-countries

In short RHD originated from horse riding because it was easier, hence it was adapted to first generation of automobiles, but LHD is easier for automobiles, hence the switch later on...

Key for attached picture.
Red is LHD countries
Blue is RHD countries.

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