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Tag: Ban

  • Ebonyi and foreign rice ban

    Apparently buoyed by emerging support for its ban on the sale and consumption of foreign rice, the Ebonyi State government has to set up a task force to ensure full compliance.

    Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh had commended the state government for the decision to ban the sale and consumption of foreign rice during his assessment tour of some rice projects in the state. Ogbeh who was accompanied by the chairman, Presidential Committee on Rice Production, Abubakar Bagudu and CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele commended Governor Dave Umahi for ensuring massive rice production in the state. He said “I heard you banned the sale of foreign rice in your state, God bless you for it”.

    Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Abdullahi Adamu had in a different forum, endorsed the ban thus: “I support the ban on sale of foreign rice in Ebonyi. We have to start somewhere. What we know is that local production is not enough but we should consume it and that is not an excuse for importing rice”.

    Umahi directed the taskforce to “confiscate foreign rice found in our markets, the person should give us the certificate of the quality of the rice and has to provide the import duties paid for it, where he bought it from and give us Standard of Organization of Nigeria certificate to prove that the rice is not poisonous”. He sought to justify these measures on the grounds that some foreign rice were poisonous having been stored for over 20 years abroad before they were smuggled into the country.

    On the face value, it would seem all is well with the decision of the Ebonyi State government to ban the sale and consumption of foreign rice. This is especially so as the seeming overall objective is to discourage the consumption of imported rice and boost the consumption and production of local variant. This thinking is further supported given that Ebonyi has great potentials for the production of local rice which is said to be of better nutritive value than the imported variety. There is also a lot of economy of scale that will follow if our people are made to consume the rice we produce. It will create jobs, enhance income per capita and catalyze a positive leap in the general well-being of our people. These benefits are not in doubt.

    There is also the compelling imperative to discourage the seeming insatiable appetite of our people for what is foreign. Thus, the inward looking approach for solutions to our developmental problems cannot be faulted.

    These may have been some of the considerations that compelled Umahi to ban the sale of foreign rice –a product the state has elastic capacity to produce. Through the ban, it is seeking to encourage the consumption of locally produced rice which will in turn lead to increased production, job creation and improvement in the general well-being of the people. Conceived along this line, the ban would seem a step worth its while.

    But its success would depend on a number of extenuating variables some of which are beyond the control of the state government. The first presumption of the policy is that Ebonyi has available, enough local rice to meet domestic demand. The veracity of this claim is clearly in doubt. For a start, it is doubtful if the state government has accurate statistics on the quantity of rice consumed in the state yearly. It is unlikely to have one since it has no way of monitoring the quantity of foreign rice that hitherto came into the state.

    Even if it is privy to the quantum of local rice produced in the state, the unavailability of reliable data on consumption could in effect, render the policy nugatory. There could be scarcity of the product which in turn, will lead to price increase. It is also doubtful Ebonyi can produce sufficient rice to feed its people when the commodity is sold and consumed beyond the shores of the state.

    If Umahi discovers that the rice produced in his state cannot go round as it is sold in other states, will he then turn around and ban its sale outside the boundaries of the state? This poser is at the heart of the contradiction brought to the fore by the sole action of that state in banning the sale of foreign rice contrary to extant policy of the federal government. The same contradictions were at play when Umahi directed the taskforce to extract from foreign rice sellers such information as certificate of quality, duties paid on the commodity and certificate from SON that the rice is not poisonous.

    These issues are beyond the mandate of the state government as we have a surfeit of regulatory agencies for such assignments. Moreover, Ebonyi State is a land locked state. It neither has a seaport or airport nor does it share borders with any foreign country. What then is the propriety in going into the markets to inundate retailers with all these details that ordinarily should be supplied by importers at the ports of entry? Why hold the poor retailers responsible for issues they know little or nothing about?

    How many of our rice importers have their head offices in Ebonyi and how many of them are from that state if any? These posers have been raised to underscore the incongruity in some of the demands the task force has been assigned to confront foreign rice seller with. They also reinforce the problems we run into when we roll out an isolated policy that ignores extant position of the federal government on the matter.

    Ebonyi State went beyond its mandate to have unilaterally banned the sale and consumption of foreign rice in the state. The action is loaded with more problems than whatever benefits it is bound to achieve.  Apart from the fact that it cannot guarantee sufficient supply of local rice, it will amount to an undue harassment of foreign rice sellers, most of whom are middlemen and retailers.

    For such a ban to have meaning, the initiative should come from the federal government. But it cannot do so because of the mismatch between domestic production and consumption. Besides, Nigeria is signatory to many treaties on trade liberalization that frown at trade restrictions or outright ban on the importation of commodities. So where does the Ebonyi case fit within this matrix and of what value will it be in the overall national calculations to increase the consumption and production of local rice?

    The federal government said it has initiated measures in several fronts to boost domestic rice production. These should be pursued with greater vigour. Audu Ogbeh has promised government’s rehabilitation of the Ettem Amagu Ikwo Dam, supply of rice harvesters, threshers and parboiling drums to the state. These are the issues to be vigorously pursued by the Ebonyi State government to ensure it gets its fair share of them.

    The overall objective now should be to substantially increase domestic production of rice that can fairly compete with the imported ones. Once this has been achieved, the lure of force as a veritable tool to secure local consumption compliance will fizzle out unilaterally. Then, Ebonyi will have no need for a task force that will confiscate imported rice within its shores.

    More importantly, with the phenomenal high price of imported rice, the availability of cheaper local variant should be a soothing relief to the people of the state. By simple economic laws, this will result in a shift of patronage to the cheaper alternative. If we still depend on force to get our people to consume our local rice despite its cheaper price, it should instruct we are yet to get our acts right.

    These are the issue to worry about. The right approach is to get more rice produced, refined in such a way that will command local patronage. Then, there would be no need to worry about foreign rice influx and use of taskforces to harass sellers of the commodity. For now, the approach of the Ebonyi State government to the matter is a verity of putting the cart before the horse; an exercise in shadow chasing.

  • Fed Govt backs Umahi’s ban on sale of imported rice

    Fed Govt backs Umahi’s ban on sale of imported rice

    The Federal Government has said it is supporting Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi’s ban on the sale of foreign rice in the state.
    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audi Ogbe, spoke of Federal Government’s support for the governor’s action when he visited Ettem Amagu Rice Farm in Ikwo Local Government Area during his assessment of agricultural potential of the state.
    Ogbeh, who was in company with the Chairman of Presidential Committee on Rice Production, Abubakar Bagudu and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, hailed Umahi for his agricultural policy, particularly ensuring massive rice production in the state.
    He said: “Mr Governor, I hear you banned the sale of foreign rice in your state. God bless you for it. I also hear you invited young men to return from Lagos and work here. God bless you also for it. They will be happier here in this state than living under the bridge or substandard accommodation in Lagos, Abuja or elsewhere.”
    A statement at the weekend by Umahi’s Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya, said the minister advised youths to key into agriculture to diversify the economy and see it as a way out of the current recession.
    He promised to bring agricultural equipment, such as rice harvesters, threshers, par-boiling drums, to Ebonyi State.
    Ogbe said: “By the middle of last week, I had some machines ready for you (Ebonyi State). These include threshers and even new par-boiling drums, which operate differently from what women are using. When those machines come, young men will be thought how to enter a farm and harvest rice for farmers. These young men and farmers will make so much money to the extent that they will become millionaires in the villages. So, wealth is here (in farming).”
    The minister, who also announced Federal Government’s plan to plant 1,500 hectares of cashew nuts and set up two cashew roasting plants in Ebonyi State early next year, expressed satisfaction with what he saw at Ettem Amagu and Akueze Rice farms.
    The minister described Ebonyi farmers as the real heroes of President Muhammadu Buhari’s push to diversify the economy, especially through agriculture.
    He said: “Mr Governor, next year, we shall plant for you 1,500 hectares of cashew nuts at 500 hectares in each of the three senatorial districts in your state. We shall also build for you two factories here for roasting cashew.”
    Ogbe also promised that the Federal Government would rehabilitate the Ettem Amagu Ikwo Dam to encourage dry season rice cultivation in the state.
    The minister noted that under Operation 1,037 of the Federal Government, a minimum of 10 dams per state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would be built.
    Emefiele said the apex bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme would begin next year to boost farming and tackle the challenges confronting farmers.
    The CBN also pledged the bank’s readiness to participate in the clearing and re-dredging of the Ettem Amagu Dam.
    The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Rice Production and Kebbi State Governor Bagudu said what he saw in rice-producing states showed that the country had achieved self-sufficiency in rice production and should plan rice export.
    He said: “The success recorded in the last one year is phenomenal. What we have seen in terms of rice output seems to suggest that the goal of self-sufficiency, which we hitherto thought would be achieved in 2017, might have already been achieved.”
    Umahi hailed President Buhari for reviving agriculture across the country.
    The governor expressed the readiness of his administration to partner the Federal Government in all-season farming.
    He said: “There are over 30 dams in this state. They are recharged by very near streams. So, we want assistance from the Federal Government in irrigation. We want assistance for the money to farmers. We want assistance in biomass plants. The cost of buying diesel and maintenance is too high. We also need harvesters to assist our farmers.”

    The team also visited the state’s modern rice mills at Oso-Edda and Ikwo, where they saw live processed rice rolling out of the machines.
    They were also taken to the popular Abakaliki Rice Mill where they witnessed the processing of rice paddies with locally-fabricated machines.
    Before leaving the Government House, the team saw mountains of rice husk in the Abakaliki rice mill, which the Umahi administration said it would use to generate electricity.

  • Fed Govt backs Umahi’s ban on sale of imported rice

    Fed Govt backs Umahi’s ban on sale of imported rice

    The Federal Government has said it is supporting Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi’s ban on the sale of foreign rice in the state.

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audi Ogbe, spoke of Federal Government’s support for the governor’s action when he visited Ettem Amagu Rice Farm in Ikwo Local Government Area during his assessment of agricultural potential of   the state.

    Ogbeh, who was in company with the Chairman of Presidential Committee on Rice Production, Abubakar Bagudu and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, hailed Umahi for his agricultural policy, particularly ensuring massive rice production in the state.

    He said: “Mr Governor, I hear you banned the sale of foreign rice in your state. God bless you for it. I also hear you invited young men to return from Lagos and work here. God bless you also for it. They will be happier here in this state than living under the bridge or substandard accommodation in Lagos, Abuja or elsewhere.”

    A statement at the weekend by Umahi’s Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya, said the minister advised youths to key into agriculture to diversify the economy and see it as a way out of the current recession.

    He promised to bring agricultural equipment, such as rice harvesters, threshers, par-boiling drums, to Ebonyi State.

    Ogbe said: “By the middle of last week, I had some machines ready for you (Ebonyi State). These include threshers and even new par-boiling drums, which operate differently from what women are using. When those machines come, young men will be thought how to enter a farm and harvest rice for farmers. These young men and farmers will make so much money to the extent that they will become millionaires in the villages. So, wealth is here (in farming).”

    The minister, who also announced Federal Government’s plan to plant 1,500 hectares of cashew nuts and set up two cashew roasting plants in Ebonyi State early next year, expressed satisfaction with what he saw at Ettem Amagu and Akueze Rice farms.

    The minister described Ebonyi farmers as the real heroes of President Muhammadu Buhari’s push to diversify the economy, especially through agriculture.

    He said: “Mr Governor, next year, we shall plant for you 1,500 hectares of cashew nuts at 500 hectares in each of the three senatorial districts in your state. We shall also build for you two factories here for roasting cashew.”

    Ogbe also promised that the Federal Government would rehabilitate the Ettem Amagu Ikwo Dam to encourage dry season rice cultivation in the state.

    The minister noted that under Operation 1,037 of the Federal Government, a minimum of 10 dams per state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would be built.

    Emefiele said the apex bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme would begin next year to boost farming   and tackle the challenges confronting farmers.

    The CBN also pledged the bank’s readiness to participate in the clearing and re-dredging of the Ettem Amagu Dam.

    The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Rice Production and Kebbi State Governor Bagudu said what he saw in rice-producing states showed that the country had achieved self-sufficiency in rice production and should plan rice export.

    He said: “The success recorded in the last one year is phenomenal. What we have seen in terms of rice output seems to suggest that the goal of self-sufficiency, which we hitherto thought would be achieved in 2017, might have already been achieved.”

    Umahi hailed President Buhari for reviving agriculture across the country.

    The governor expressed the readiness of his administration to partner the Federal Government in all-season farming.

    He said: “There are over 30 dams in this state. They are recharged by very near streams. So, we want assistance from the Federal Government in irrigation. We want assistance for the money to farmers. We want assistance in biomass plants. The cost of buying diesel and maintenance is too high. We also need harvesters to assist our farmers.”

  • Season of import ban threatens non-oil economy

    Season of import ban threatens non-oil economy

    Barely three months after the European Union (EU) extended its ban on dried beans import from Nigeria by three years, the United States (US) suspended Nigeria’s cocoa. The restrictions have dealt severe blows to Nigeria’s push to boost non-oil export and facilitate economic diversification. Experts, however, blame this on the country’s failure to put in place functional laboratories to certify the products before export. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    Nigeria’s push to stimulate non-oil export and facilitate economic diversification has come under serious threat.

    Reason: Lack of functional laboratories for testing and certifying products before export has ushered a season of import ban on Nigeria’s agro-allied products by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU).

    While the authorities and operators in the non-oil export business were still ruing the EU’s extension of the ban on importation of dried beans from Nigeria by three years, the US added to Nigeria’s woes when it recently banned the importation of Nigeria’s cocoa into its market.

    The EU had in June, last year banned the importation of Nigeria’s dried beans because they contained high level of pesticides which are unhealthy. This came after the Republic of Ireland rejected and returned five containers of beans exported from Nigeria to the country. The products were said to have been received with heaps of weevils. Apparently embarrassed by the development, the relevant government agencies said they were working to get the EU lift the ban. But as it turned out, the European body was not impressed by measures taken by Nigeria to resolve the issue.

    Accordingly, the EU extended the ban by another three years, citing the continued presence of dichlorvos (pesticide) in dried beans imported from Nigeria. “The continued presence of dichlorvos (pesticide) in dried beans imported from Nigeria and maximum residue levels of pesticides shows that compliance with food law requirement as regards pesticide residual cannot be achieved in the short term. The duration of the importation prohibition should therefore be extended for an additional period of three years to allow Nigeria implement the appropriate risk-management measure and provide required guarantees,” the EU said.

    For Nigeria struggling to boost non-oil export and diversify her economy severely battered by crashing oil prices, the extension of the ban was a hit below the belt. However, while Nigeria, which lost its Africa’s largest economy position to South Africa, was still rattled by the extension of the ban, the US added to her woes by banning the importation of Nigeria’s cocoa into its market. The US authorities are said to have taken the action because Nigeria’s cocoa did not satisfy the standard required for exportation into the US. Expectedly, this did not go down well with Nigeria.

    Minister of Labour and Employment Senator Chris Ngige, echoed the country’s frustration over the ban. At the recent concluding session of the Labour and Trade Ministerial Roundtable of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) at the State Department, Washington D.C, US, he said he was saddened by the development. He, therefore, made a case to the US authorities to reconsider the decision to suspend the exportation of the cash crop from Nigeria to the US.

    Ngige also asked for technical assistance for the production of cocoa that would satisfy the standard required for exportation into the US and European markets.

    But it was not so much the US ban on Nigeria’s cocoa that saddened the minister. Rather, it was the international emphasis on Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in agriculture throughout the talks with delegates from West African countries. This was why at the AGOA roundtable, Ngige wondered if the cocoa being produced in Nigeria was not the same crop that was exported and exploited to develop the defunct Western Region.

    It was also the same cocoa, according to the minister, that was used by the late Chief Michael Okpara to build vast plantations in the Arochukwu axis of the defunct Eastern Nigeria.

    Sources said the minister was worried by the international attention on Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire because Nigeria had, before the ban, set for herself the target to beat both countries in terms of cocoa exports. Even the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, at a recent meeting with officials of Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) in Abuja, gleefully announced that the ministry had already developed new cocoa breeds capable of beating the two nations.

    At the meeting, Ogbeh wondered why Nigeria still lagged behind Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, despite her enormous potential to grow cocoa in 23 states. He emphasised: “Nigeria needs to surpass Ghana and Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast is targeting two million tons now. Ghana is a bit lower than a million. We are battling at 250, 000 tons and Cocoa can grow in at least 23 states.” He gave CRIN the matching order for an intensive implementation plan to ensure that the government achieved the target.

    Where Nigeria got it wrong

    Experts said a vibrant non-oil sector was fundamental to economic diversification, rapid revenue base expansion, sustainable growth and employment generation. They, however, argued that Nigeria put the wrong foot forward when it moved to leverage on the sector to grow the economy without first putting in place functional laboratories for testing and certifying products before export.

    “The government is not serious,” the Founder, Centre for Cocoa Development Initiative, a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO), Mr. Robo Adhuze, fumed, noting for instance, that lack of seriousness by the Federal Produce Inspection Service (FPIS), the agency responsible for checking and certifying agro-allied products leaving the country, was robbing Nigeria of the benefits of a vibrant non-oil export-based economy.

    As Adhuze pointed out, “Quality standards have moved from physical standards to biological standards, but FPIS appears not be up to speed with this reality.” He recalled, for instance, that for about five years, Ghana suffered the same fate as Nigeria’s when over 2, 000 metric tonnes of her cocoa beans were rejected by Japan. Japan’s Chocolate and Cocoa Association of Japan appealed to Ghanaian authorities to take immediate steps to reverse the excessive agro-chemical residues found in cocoa beans exported to the Asian country.

    Adhuze said Ghana, a country famous for its very high quality cocoa beans, rose to the challenge by putting in place appropriate and adequate measures to guarantee the quality of her cocoa products for export. He expressed disappointment that while Ghana’s standards regulatory authorities took steps to reverse the excessive agro-chemical residues found in their cocoa beans, Nigeria was unable to do so. The result, he said, was the harvest of import ban now threatening the non-oil sector, especially in agro-allied products.

    The expert also pointed out that Nigeria’s lack of seriousness is underscored by the fact that despite exporting cocoa for over 100 years, the country has no defined cocoa policy to identify the basic links in the cocoa value chain.

    According to him, there was the need for a policy on cocoa farming with appropriate institutional framework to boost its production through proper identification of all the actors who have stake in the industry, from farmers to processors, marketers and exporters among others.

    Adhuze further said the lack of a clear-cut policy direction was responsible for why a N100 billion Cocoa Sector Development Fund remained a proposal more than two years after the Federal Government announced the initiative aimed at supporting cocoa farmers and processors. He said the government’s inability to walk the talk by translating the proposal into reality constituted a serious setback to Nigeria’s plan to reposition itself to extract immense value from the cocoa industry.

    He also said apart from stalling Nigeria’s hope of reclaiming her position as a global powerhouse in cocoa production and export, the fund’s failure to get off the ground was frustrating efforts at riding on the crest of a vibrant cocoa industry to create jobs.

    In October 2014, the Federal Government through the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, now President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, launched a N100 billion Cocoa Sector Development Fund. He also announced the government’s resolve to establish the Cocoa Development Corporation of Nigeria.

    The minister said the fund was aimed at supporting cocoa farmers by expanding cocoa plantation across the country; supporting the cocoa corporation of Nigeria and cocoa drying and access to micro finance for cocoa production.

    He also said the Cocoa Corporation of Nigeria, which would be private sector driven and public sector financed, would position Nigeria among more robust global economies and improve quality of lives of cocoa processors.

    “The corporation will be independent to grow and win back at least 20 per cent of the global cocoa market by 2020,” Adesina said. However, more than two years down the line, Adhuze lamented that the fund and the corporation remained mere proposals.

    National quality infrastructure to the rescue

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has come out with strategies to stimulate export of agric products by ensuring that they meet international standards and are not rejected by the importing country.

    Its former Acting Director-General, Dr Paul Angya, recently said the agency was developing standards for select priority produce from farm to storage, cutting across soil composition, soil preparation, kind of pesticides to use, seed improvement, harvesting, packaging labelling and storage.

    He said as part of the strategy, SON had developed codes of practice to guide the producers and farmers of the selected products that are of high priority from Nigeria so that Nigeria could deliver safe and affordable agro-allied products to the international community.

    While adding that SON has strengthened capacity for lab testing and certification of agric produce meant for exportation, as it is key that the products do not have issues,  Angya said these products were tested only in the countries of export.

    He said this meant Nigeria does not have control over the results, “because we don’t have much of the facilities for testing in Nigeria. The facilities are what we call quality infrastructure. The testing laboratories are one of the major components of the National Quality Infrastructure (NQI).”

    According to him, there are only two of such laboratories in Nigeria, with SON and National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) having one each for testing food products. He, however, said SON was developing a large lab complex in Ogba, Lagos, which is over 85 per cent completed.

    He said when completed, Nigeria should be able to test all standards and parametres for food products, so that the facilities would become available and much of the products coming to Nigeria will have access to this testing.

    Association of Systems Management Consultants National President, Mazi Coleman Obasi, expressed optimism that the NQI project being funded by the EU and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development (UNIDO), with the support of Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, would sought out issues around quality that cause the rejection of Nigeria’s export products.

    Obasi, a certified quality management practitioner, said the association was working closely with UNIDO and other relevant government agencies on the NQI project to boost the competitiveness of locally  products at the international market place and ensure the global acceptance of products and services from Nigeria.

  • Customs PRO denies report on reverse of rice ban

    Customs PRO denies report on reverse of rice ban

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has not reversed the ban on  rice.

    Its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Wale Adeniyi, a Deputy-Comptroller, was reacting to a report which  indicated that the Customs had reversed the ban on rice import through land borders.

    Adeniyi, in a statement in Abuja, denied the reports which allegedly emanated from him, saying he never issued such a statement.

    He said the reports which were published last weekend were the ones he granted last October.

    Adeniyi said the service suspected that some forces behind rice smuggling were at work, recycling old reports under a different circumstance to create confusion.

    “It is necessary to restate the true position in view of the confusion, which these publications may create in the industry. It is even more expedient to provide this clarification, given that the service has taken a firm position earlier in the week through a joint news conference with stakeholders.

    “We like to reiterate the position that importation of rice remains banned through our land borders and we have the commitment of partner government agencies and stakeholders to enforce this restriction,” Adeniyi said.

    He added that while the restriction is in force, rice imports through the ports are still allowed, subject to payment of extant charges.

    “The service will, therefore, advocate a total ban on rice importation into Nigeria with effect from 2017.  It is our belief that continuous waste of scarce Foreign Exchange (forex) on a commodity that can be produced locally makes no economic sense, most especially at a period of recession,” Adeniyi stated.

    Nigeria spends $2 billion yearly on riceimportation.President Muhammadu Buhari, who made this known recently in Abuja, said to achieve domestic self-sufficiency in rice and other staples by 2018, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had been mobilised to encourage local production of rice, maize, sorghum, millet and soya beans.

    The president said farmers in 13 out of 36 states were receiving credit support through the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme.

    This must have encouraged Adeniyi to restate the confidence that customs had in the ability of Nigerian Rice Producers (NRP) to fill the sufficiency gaps in the supply of the product.

    According to him, Customs had noted the ongoing rice revolution undertaken by many state governments and strategic interventions by Federal Government agencies.

    He said the service was convinced that the bumper harvests expected from these efforts will address the supply gap next year, urging Nigerians to watch out for similar antics as the stand on rice smuggling would pitch their selfish interest against national interest.

  • ‘Maritime loses 3,000 jobs to import ban’

    About 3,000 workers, have been sacked by shipping firms, terminal operators and logistics companies, the President-General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Tony Emmanuel, has said.

    Emmanuel, in a statement in Lagos, said the sack was a fallout of the ban on importation of some commodities.

    He urged the Federal Government to review certain economic policies, especially those on importation of some items, saying that it was wrong to ban those items without alternatives.

    “As an import-dependent country, Nigeria cannot suddenly ban the importation of principal goods being generally consumed in the country,’’ he said.

    Emmanuel said the policy had sent 20 shipping firms out of the countrybecausev of dwindling balance sheets.

    He appealed to the government to lift the ban on items: such as wheat, vehicle spare parts and machineries, until the nation could  produce them.

    “As a remedy, the union, however, demanded for a review of the ban. Failure to do this, will encourage smuggling, diversion of ships to neighbouring countries, idle ports, retrenchment of workers, unemployment and general loss of revenue to government,” he said.

    He also spoke of revenue loss through under-declaration, attributing this to the sack of some dockworkers – tally clerks and on-board securitymen.

    Emmanuel said the position of the union was that tally clerks and on-board security men be recalled.

    According to him, when the union members were in-charge of tallying cargoes and securing the cargoes on board ships, there were no cases of loss of revenue.

    Apart from revenue leakages,  he said recalling the tally clerks and on-board security men would reduce unemployment.

  • ASSBIFI to CBN: lift forex ban on banks

    ASSBIFI to CBN: lift forex ban on banks

    The Association  of Senior Staff of  Bank, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to lift its ban on the nine banks for refusing to remit to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) its $2.334 billion in their Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    Last week, the apex bank banned the some money banks from foreign exchange transactions over their refusal to remit the funds.

    The banks and their  debts are United Bank for Africa (UBA), $530million; First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), $469million; Diamond Bank Plc, ($287million); Sterling Bank Plc, ($269million); Skye Bank Plc, ($221million); Fidelity Bank, ($209million); Keystone Bank, ($139million); First City Monument Bank, (FCMB) $125million; and Heritage Bank, ($85million).

    The ban on United Bank for Africa (UBA) by the apex bank was, however, lifted.

    ASSBIFI National President, Comrade Olusola Salako said the ban would not solve the problem but would cause upheaval in the market.

    He said the banks’ inability to pay would only cause panic in the system as the banks would have to seek  loans from international banks to pay the debts.

    He said: “However, the probability for these international banks rendering a helping hand at this time to the banned banks is almost next to zero, at least not until our economic problems have been resolved.”

    Speaking further, he said this ban would only reduce competition in foreign exchange transaction market which would invariably see another round of spike in the dollar against the naira in forex trading until there is a resolution.

    “It is also necessary to state that the possible effects this ban may have on workers in the affected banks cannot be over emphasised.

    “These banks even before the ban had already lost most of its revenue and profit to the TSA policy which saw some of them disengaging their workers to cover for the overturn on profit loss through reduction in overhead.

    “This ban from foreign exchange transaction may further cripple the operations of these banks and further have adverse effect on the already precarious state of their balance sheets.

    “We, therefore, believe that the ban though may be necessary but the timing is not right for the economy. Consequently we advocate the ban be lifted and a more placid approach be engaged in settling the matter,” Salako added.

  • Ambode, reconsider street trading ban

    SIR; Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, strikes many people, including friends and foes, as a refreshing breadth of fresh air. His quiet effectiveness, sense of mission, grasp of the art and science of governance and administrative ingenuity that have begun to yield meaningful developments for the people of Lagos are some of the reasons why some are already saying perhaps a bigger man than Fashola is in the saddle. Even when he was severely criticized for his tentativeness at the onset of his administration, he neither joined issues with the critics nor hired loads of sycophants and praise singers to plead his case like his fellow lords of the manors are wont to do. He weathered the storm, responded through deeds that showed his preparedness for the job and vision for a greater Lagos.

    Lately, Ambode has given critics some new ammunition to pummel him. It all started when he enunciated his readiness to ensure that Lagos lives to up to its billing as a mega polis of international dimension. The route to the new Lagos, according to Ambode, includes new and audacious plan for the Oshodi heartland and a cleaner and saner highways and streets across the state. To achieve the Lagos of his and our dream, Ambode wants to and has actually decreed street trading and hawking out of existence. To show his seriousness and determination to stamp out this blight he has prescribed a humongous fine of N90, 000, a princely sum in this time and clime, for hawkers and their patrons  who run afoul of the law and those who cannot pay will spend six months  in jail.  Some offenders will get both at the same time.

    Yes, it is important to ensure some order on the streets and inner roads particularly relating to hawking on highbrow streets and in traffic on major highways. I support the ban on hawking on highways. It constitutes clear and present danger to the hawkers, their patrons and other road users. It is also a sore sight to first time visitors and foreigners who daily throng our Lagos from other climes. But this matter of outright ban on street trading and hawking without providing any workable alternative is an invitation to a bigger problem. Simply put Ambode will create a bigger problem in the process of solving a big problem. It will cast him in the pantheon of elitist rulers of the people. And compounding it with a N90, 000 as fine for hawkers and their patrons is overkill.

    The way out is to look at what other managers of megapolis have done to manage street hawkers and traders. After all there exist various street markets in major cities across the world including the famous Oxford and Pecham High Street Markets in London, Jemaa, Marakech in Morocco and the Temple Street Market in Hong Kong. And if you have visited London especially the Pecham area you will still notice loads and loads of street traders and hawkers displaying their wares, soliciting for patrons and making brisk business. Therefore Ambode and his government should reconsider the outright ban on street trading.  While hawking on busy major highways should be discouraged and banned, street traders should be given another window to make a living. Government should also look for ways to designate certain areas as street markets in places where street trading is prevalent. In such arenas, people will be free to buy and sell without let or hindrance.

    However the most compelling reason why Ambode should take a second look and finetune the new initiative is its potential to cause major social upheaval. The law will be a ready tool in the hands of overzealous officials especially the various layers of security outfits in the state who will hound and hunt potential preys, milking some in the process and chasing some to their deaths on the highways.

     

    • Adegbenro Adebanjo,

    obanijesu@yahoo.com

  • Lagos and the ban on street trading

    Lagos and the ban on street trading

    It is no longer news that the Lagos state government has begun the enforcement of the law banning street trading in the state. Expectedly, this has continued to generate lots of controversies across the state and beyond. While some have commended the state government for the action, others, however, perceive it in bad light. This, of course, is the beauty of democracy.

    It is, however, important to state from the outset that the state government has not enacted any new law concerning street trading. What it has merely done is to enforce a law that has been in existence before now. Thus, the Lagos State Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law, 2003, which prescribes a punishment of N90, 000 or a six-month jail term, for both the buyer and the seller of any goods or services on the streets, predates the current administration.

    Globally, formulating laws and enforcing same for the good of the society is one of the cardinal tasks of governments. A major difference between human society and the animal kingdom is that the earlier is regulated through set rules and regulations for the preservation of law and order while the latter thrives on jungle code which gives rise to anarchy. It is in order to ensure that human societies don’t descent into chaos that laws are enacted to guide human conducts.

    Globally, human societies are roughly classified into developed and developing nations and one of the major indices used in arriving at such categorization is ability to live by set rules. In developed nations, conducts of the citizenry are largely guided by set rules. But then, same cannot be said of developing nations where deliberate acts of lawlessness and disorderliness are often the order of the day.

    It seems one of the unwritten codes, here, is gross disdain for the law. In such nations, drivers, riders and other road users behave without recourse to the law. It is not that they are ignorant of the law. No! They recognize the law. They just don’t care about the law. Ironically, when same people find themselves in climes where the law is revered, they readily stoop to the supremacy of the law.

    One of the recurring arguments from the stable of those who are against the Lagos state government’s recent enforcement of the law on street trading is the poverty angle. The basis of this argument is that since street traders are poor people with no other source of livelihood, they should be allowed to go on with their street business. But then, this line of argument is rather too simplistic.

    It is akin to asking the police to ignore a petty thief because he stole out of poverty. It is equally similar to demanding that KAI officials should not reprimand someone who was involved in open defecation just because there are no public toilets along the route. A society can’t simply work that way. Before the Lagos state government decided to sanitise Oshodi, the place was the ultimate center of pandemonium.

    The old Oshodi was a reflection of the rot and lawlessness that has pervaded our society for long. The Oshodi Master Plan did not make provision for roadside trading. But then, over the years, a few people took advantage of the ‘weaknesses’ of the law to turn the place into one hell of a place. Oshodi was to become the albatross of the metropolis; a symbol of commotion where commuters were held up in avoidable traffic gridlocks for hours.

    What the state government eventually did at Oshodi was a question of upholding legality against illegality in order to create an environment beneficial to millions of other lawful citizens. Today, thanks to that singular intervention, Oshodi has become saner and safer. Many commentators have argued that the state government ought to have provided an alternative for the street traders before getting them off the streets.

    To me, the logic in this argument doesn’t seem right. It is like the police asking you to provide a robber who had invaded your home with a job so that he wouldn’t come visiting again! In the first place, turning the roadsides and the streets to trading arena is illegal. Just try to imagine what Lagos would look like if everyone turns every available space across major roads and streets into trade centers.

    As previously affirmed, a major responsibility of governments across the world is preservation of law and order. A disorderly society cannot attract much development. This is partly why we remain where we are as a people. Our compatriots flout traffic laws and other such flagrantly. One moment, they out rightly disregard public officials whose lot is to uphold the law, the next instant they complain of not being treated courteously by same officials whom they treat with disgusting contempt.

    When government abdicates its duty of preserving law and order, the society simply becomes a jungle. To ask the government to provide job for everyone that comes to Lagos is a tall order. A recent data reveals that over 25,000 people move into Lagos on a daily basis from several parts of the country for various reasons. This is aside hundreds of others that daily troop into the state from neighbouring West African countries. Sadly, when their aspiration for economic salvation becomes a mirage, most of them readily take to anti-socio path.

    What government could do to encourage wealth creation in the state is to create a conducive atmosphere for regulated economic activities to thrive. Towards this end, government is upgrading infrastructure across the state as new roads and bridges are being constructed just as existing ones are being re-habilitated.

    Likewise, the Light up Lagos Project has improved security for all at nights. The proposed Oshodi Transport Interchange, the audacious plan for a 4th Mainland Bridge, the Lekki Free Trade zone among others are projects that would clearly enhance economic activities in the state. Perhaps, the most creative and strategic step taken, thus far, by the state government to create wealth and tackle unemployment in the state is the establishment of an N25bn Employment Trust Fund, ETF.

    The major aim of the Fund is to address unemployment and promote wealth creation through entrepreneurial development. The Fund is to be given out as loan with moderate interest rate of 3% per annum (the lowest rate in the country presently) to Lagos residents with innovative business ideas. It should be stressed, however, that the management of the Fund is strictly a private sector affair.

    As I draw to a close, let me clarify that street traders do not belong to the Informal sector. The sector consists of mainly skilled artisans who work as transporters, vulcanisers, mechanics, battery chargers, fashion designers, hair dressers, barbers, traders (not street ones), painters, welders, carpenters, bricklayers, farmers etc who have one service or the other to render.

    Their activities are being properly coordinated by the state’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives which meet regularly with their leaders. On a final note, as painful as the ban on street trading might look, as the Oshodi experience has shown, it is meant for the good of the larger society.

    Ogunbiyi is of the Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

     

  • Lagos to ban PET bottle, sachet

    The Lagos State Government has said plans are afoot to phase out the use of PET bottles (polyethylene terephthalate) and sachet that are used for packaging potable water.

    Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) General Manager Rasheed Shabi dropped the hint at the celebration of this year’s World Environment Day (WED), organised by the agency, saying that PET bottles and sachets may be banned in the next six months.

    “The use of PET bottles and nylon bags, including the water sachets, will be phased out in the state before the end of this year because we have discovered that not only do these products end up blocking drainages and water channels, we have also seen that they are not easily degradable and are poisonous to the earth,” Shabi said.

    Though the LASEPA chief did not expatiate on the modalities that would be deployed to actualise the plan, Shabi said the stoppage remains the only way to put an end to the perennial flooding being experienced in the state, which is mainly caused by blocking of drainages by pet bottles and pure water sachets.

    He said the agency would soon hold a stakeholders’ meeting involving producers of water and pharmaceutical products in order to get them to commence the process of stopping the usage of the soon to be banned materials in the state.

    Shabi noted that WED’s theme – “Go wild for wildlife,” is not just to help preserve and conserve further loss of biodiversity, but also to aid the protection of wild life, which would also translate to the protection of ‘life on land’ and ‘life below water’.

    Said he: “Around the world today, the ecosystem is increasingly subjected to the negative effects of human population growth and its expanding ecological footprint. Global environmental change has altered physical and biological systems and is becoming an increasing concern for the well-being and survival of many species.”

    He warned that the destruction of the habitat through the encroachment of human settlement, pollution of water, soil, air and illegal hunting in the wild, aimed at meeting the demand for hides and skins, traditional medicines, food, and tourists souvenirs, all threaten the continuous existence of some animal and plant species.