{"id":170552,"date":"2025-07-21T12:01:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T11:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue"},"modified":"2025-07-21T13:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T12:15:09","slug":"extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue","title":{"rendered":"Extortion at Checkpoints Driving Up Food Prices in Benue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The paramount traditional ruler of the Tiv Nation and Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Council, HRM Prof. James Ayatse, has decried the growing presence of unauthorized checkpoints across various parts of the state, describing the situation as a major factor behind the escalating prices of food items in Benue and across the country.<\/p>\n<p>The Tor Tiv raised the alarm during a courtesy visit to his palace by the newly appointed acting Executive Chairman of the Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS), Mr Joseph Kwaghgba, who came in company of his management team.<\/p>\n<p>According to the monarch, these unlawful checkpoints are being exploited for illegal tax collection and extortion purposes, a development he says \u201cdiscourages farmers from transporting their produce from rural areas to urban centres.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis practice negatively impacts agricultural trade and contributes to the rising cost of food items both within and outside the state,\u201d the Royal Father stated.<\/p>\n<p>Revealing some of the flashpoints, the traditional leader mentioned that he had received credible reports of such illegal tax points along the Ihugh-Gboko road and on the Zaki Biam\u2013Ugbema axis.<\/p>\n<p>He revealed that the report showed \u201cthere were over 40 checkpoints between Zaki Biam and Ugbema alone\u201d and appealed to relevant security agencies to intervene without delay.<\/p>\n<p>He also urged the leadership of BIRS to uphold best practices by entrenching transparency and accountability in tax administration across the state.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, deploying modern ICT tools is vital for enhancing the integrity of the tax system and for improving Benue\u2019s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).<\/p>\n<p>The Tor Tiv offered his blessings to Mr Kwaghgba and his team, advising them to remain united and committed to lawful conduct, stating that \u201ctaxation must be legal, humane, and transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Mr Kwaghgba had expressed appreciation to the Tor Tiv for the audience granted him, describing the engagement as a \u201chomecoming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He explained that his visit was to formally notify the royal father of his recent appointment by Governor Hyacinth Alia and to seek his royal advice and blessings as he assumes leadership of the state\u2019s revenue board.<\/p>\n<p>The acting BIRS boss appealed for the monarch\u2019s support in addressing the issue of illegal levy points and urged him to instruct other traditional leaders in his jurisdiction to back the government\u2019s ongoing tax reforms.<\/p>\n<p>He also warned against allowing their subjects to continue erecting roadblocks aimed at extorting traders, road users, and farmers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The paramount traditional ruler of the Tiv Nation and Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Council, HRM Prof. James Ayatse, has decried the growing presence of unauthorized checkpoints across various parts of the state, describing the situation as a major factor behind the escalating prices of food items in Benue and across [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":170551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[331,254,17257],"class_list":["post-170552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-benue","tag-nigeria","tag-tor-tiv"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Extortion at Checkpoints Driving Up Food Prices in Benue - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The paramount traditional ruler of the Tiv Nation and Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Council, HRM Prof. James A ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Extortion at Checkpoints Driving Up Food Prices in Benue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The paramount traditional ruler of the Tiv Nation and Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Council, HRM Prof. James A ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-21T11:01:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-21T12:15:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1753087612.345945.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Extortion at Checkpoints Driving Up Food Prices in Benue\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-21T11:01:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-21T12:15:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue\"},\"wordCount\":422,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1753087612.345945.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Benue\",\"Nigeria\",\"Tor Tiv\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/extortion-at-checkpoints-driving-up-food-prices-in-benue\",\"name\":\"Extortion at Checkpoints Driving Up Food Prices in Benue - 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