“The levies they listed include road maintenance levy (0.85% Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF), statistics levy (7.28% CIF), corridor security levy (0.50% CIF), Customs bond (0.25% CIF), Customs stamp (4% Stat), tracking (75,000 per truck).”
Cross-border traders have continued to groan under the high cost of moving goods through the Lagos-Abidjan corridor, which they say, is hurting regional trade.
A document obtained by The Guardian from the aggrieved traders revealed that the transit levy from Nigeria through Benin Republic to coastal and landlocked countries are too high for traders to bear.
The levies they listed include road maintenance levy (0.85% Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF), statistics levy (7.28% CIF), corridor security levy (0.50% CIF), Customs bond (0.25% CIF), Customs stamp (4% Stat), tracking (75,000 per truck).
In Ghana, other levies include; administrative fee ($200 per truck), tracking device (50,000CFA), transit bond (30,000CFA), processing fee (50,000CFA-100,000CFA), among others.
A key stakeholder, and officer of the West African Road Transport Union (WARTU), Salami Alasoadura said the corridor is also lacking necessary infrastructure such as weighbridges and scanners.
He said that there is a lack of trade information for the traders in the areas for national policy, local policy and international policy, thereby making trading across the region an herculean task.