New Telegraph

Nigerian exporters pay N9m duty per truck to Benin Republic

Some firms under the umbrella of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and Nigerian exporters are now paying N9million per truck as import duty to the Benin Republic Government.

 

The exporters said that the punitive transit duty imposed by Benin was due to inability of the Federal Government to resolve the trade dispute with the neighbouring country.

 

The exporters noted that the imposed huge duty payment had impeded trade across the West African sub-region, leading to low competition of the Nigerian manufactured goods, stressing that this could jeopadise the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement implementation.

 

The exporters insisted that the trade feud between Benin Republic and Nigeria, has added to the challenges business owners or managers are facing in the country’s macroeconomics sphere.

 

The exporters explained: “Initially, at the height of the trade dispute between Nigeria and Benin Republic, the Republic of Benin Government imposed import duty of CFA9 million (N6.5 million) per transit truck on Nigeria-bound cargoes, which was a breach under the Economic Community of West African States Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) protocols.”

 

The Chairman for other African countries of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Promotion Group (MANEG), Mr. Okhai Ehimigbai, said in a chat that manufacturing exporters were bearing the brunt of the punitive transit duty, leading to noncompetitiveness of Nigerian manufacturing products in ECOWAS Sub region.

 

Ehimigbai added that the trade dispute between the two countries had added to key investment climate variables in business performance in Nigeria, especially those in the real sector space, identified access to foreign exchange, exchange rate depreciation, high inflationary pressures, crisis at the ports, high cost of diesel, skyrocketing gas prices, and insecurity as the most critical challenges of business in the last couple of months.

 

He said: “Many exporting firms in MANEG are lamenting the severe impact of the punitive transit duty imposed by Benin Republic on transit goods passing through the country by road. The duty is estimated at an average of N9 million per truck. This duty payment is significantly impeding trade across the West African sub region.”

 

The chairman stressed that some countries within the region were frustrating Nigerian economic interests in the sub-region despite the ECOWAS protocols. While speaking on COVID-19 pandemic impacts on business performance, he said: “The tempo of economic activities had increased following the progressive relaxation of the COVID-19 restrictions which had restricted activities in some sectors of the economy.

 

The economy witnessed an improvement in the activities and gradual recovery in the entertainment, hospitality, aviation, transportation, trade and commerce, food and beverage sectors, among others.”

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