The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and its counterpart in the Benin Republic have agreed to address the multiple taxes on transit cargoes along the ECOWAS corridor and also harmonise import prohibition policies.
This means that the duo will address multiple taxes while also agreeing to ban some products.
Nigeria has placed 42 goods on the import prohibition list and getting the Benin Republic to agree to this was part of the highlights of the working visit of the Acting Comptroller-General of NCS, Adewale Adeniyi.
He met with the Senior Minister in charge of Economy and Finance, Romuald Wadagni, Benin Republic President, Patrice Talon, and also, the Director-General of Benin Republic Customs, Alain Hinkati.
The meeting dwelled on measures to ensure a good relationship between the two countries, promote the ECOWAS trade liberalisation scheme, and facilitation the movement of goods and community products in particular, according to Adeniyi who had an interactive session with stakeholders at Webb Fontaine in Port of Cotonou.
Adeniyi pushed for the removal of barriers and other obstacles to legitimate trade and the establishment of customs units when the traffic justifies it and also, for strict compliance with transit rules and harmonisation of the list of products prohibited by the two countries.
“There should be rapid integration of Nigeria into the Interconnected System for the Management of Goods in Transit (SIGMAT) which already includes the Customs Administrations of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo,” he said.
The two countries agreed to strengthen the fight against cross-border crime through cooperation, intelligence sharing and the pooling of resources, and both will be meeting twice a year on these issues.
They also agreed on the reactivation of the joint committee for monitoring trade and transit relations, in addition to the revival of consultation frameworks of border customs units with the active participation of the private sector.
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