![Benin’s transit duty hitting Nigerian businesses hard – CPPE](https://mmsplusng.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Muda-Yusuf-e1543216490470.jpg)
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, a private sector advocacy group, has decried the transit duty imposed on trucks coming from Nigeria by the Benin Republic Customs, saying it is hitting businesses hard.
A statement signed by the Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Muda Yusuf, said the Benin Republic Customs imposed a transit duty of an average of N9m per truck on cargoes carrying goods from Nigeria through the border to other West African nations.
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It said, “This continues to make it very difficult for companies exporting or importing by road to do so. It is essentially a blockade of movement of trucks through the Benin border.
“There is this theory that it is a retaliatory action by the government of Benin Republic following the border closure by Nigeria about a year ago (which had since been relaxed).”
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The CPPE noted that the action was in disregard for the Economic Community of West African States’ trade liberalisation protocol.
It said, “This development has been taking a huge toll on Nigerian businesses involved in cross-border trade within the sub-region.”
The CPPE said potential investors would like to see a more effective intervention by the Nigerian government to end the act, which it described as a “punitive and obstructionist action” by the government of Benin Republic.