FG succumbs to EU demand, slashes import duties by 10%

In a bid to stay in the good books of the European Union (EU), Nigeria has agreed to reduce import duties for about 170 items by various percentages, ranging from 10 to zero with effect from January 2017.

About 86 of the items received 10 per cent slash, 50 with 5 per cent while about 20 others now attract free import duties.
It would be recalled that the real sector, represented by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), had in August 2016 stood against the (ECOWAS)/European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which demanded throwing the Nigerian borders open for imported items to flood the markets.
However, government had, after a series of meetings with representatives of EU, expressed readiness to derive benefits from the €26 billion grant, dangled before it and other ECOWAS-member countries, as part of the European Union (EU) backed EPA agreement.