Freight forwarder decries loss of revenue to Benin Republic port

A freight forwarder and the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agent spokesman, Dr. Kayode Farinto, on Tuesday said Nigeria was losing revenue to neighbouring Cotonou, Benin Republic port.
Kayode said the unfavourable business climate in Nigeria had compelled some of the shippers to route their cargoes through the Cotonou port where they could make profit.
The ANLCA spokesman told newsmen in Lagos that most of the 41 banned items by Nigeria found their way into the Nigeria market via the Cotonou border.
Kayode said: “If the country is serious on banning those items, efforts should be made to ensure that smuggling of such items is not condoled.
“Some of my colleagues have relocated their offices to Cotonou and the Seme border town to assist their clients in bringing their goods into Nigeria.
“It takes a simple economic calculation to know that the revenue that would have accrued to Nigeria through import duties from such goods from the border is being eroded.”
According to Kayode, the country will be making nonsense of the banned policy if the prohibited items continue to make way into the Nigeria market with reckless abandon.
He urged the security agents at the country’s entry points to live up to their official responsibilities and salvage the nation’s dwindling fortune.
Kayode noted: “If we must get it right as a people, attitude of the officers at the border posts must be sacrosanct.”