The Nation Newspaper

Tag: rice smuggling

  • Mr President, declare emergency on rice smuggling

    SIR: Congratulations President Muhammadu Buhari on your electoral success. The elections are over and time for praise singing has ended and time for business has started. I feel it is time I called your attention to more pressing and important issues.

    Sir, your administration has been floundering, wobbling and fumbling on how to handle the issue of smuggling which seems to have defeated you in the first tenure. I pray this will not be the case in this second tenure because the repercussion is better imagined.

    On the issue of smuggling, I pray you to revisit this challenge promptly in this your second tenure because quite frankly, those who have invested in the rice value chain because of your resolve to stick to laudable and commendable decision of non-importation are beginning to regret it. We the farmers can’t sell our paddy because the millers who are supposed to buy it off us have so much stock in their mills. The millers have so much stock because the dealers have too much stock which they can’t sell because there is super abundance of smuggled rice. Smuggled rice before now used to be cheaper in the North-central and Southwest alone. This leaves the Southeast and South-south where it is slightly more expensive than the local option. But most recently, smugglers and Nigeria Customs have perfected the strategy of getting the rice to these two regions thereby closing the price gap between the local and smuggled rice in the South-south and Southeast. The implication is that the patronage for local rice has completely dwindled.

    Smuggling has been a problem but it appears that the floodgates were opened since December 2018 till date. The month of December which is known for high patronage of rice was welcomed by the millers with mass production of rice in anticipation of the huge patronage. Pronto, Nigeria Customs Service saw that period as the time to make quick money so they opened the borders to allow in smuggled rice. That situation has not abated. As at the time of writing, price of smuggled rice is below N12,000 per bag in the North and Southwest whereas the cost of producing local rice is about N13,100 at the mills for those who have their own mills while for those who don’t have their mills, the cost at the mills is +/- N13,900 per bag.

    Sir, the farmers, millers, dealers and traders are all crying because of the influx of the smuggled rice. People who naturally would have bought the local rice are apprehensive because they know that once they stock the local rice and the smuggled rice comes in, it holds up their capital. This has been the case for the dealers and traders since December 2018.

    The millers have so much stock in their warehouses that they cannot purchase paddy which is in season now. The resultant effect is that farmers cannot sell. If and when the paddy is not sold during season, with the poor storage we have in the country, tendencies are we the farmers will be forced to sell at giveaway prices soon. This will mean huge losses and subsequently, disinterest in continuing to farm. The cycle is a vicious one that culminates in apathy to operating in the rice value chain except the problem of smuggling is checkmated immediately.

    As a farmer yourself and one who has been around for some seven decades and counting, I do not need to talk much for you to understand that it is high time you declared a state of emergency on smuggling. A different approach is required urgently. I am willing to offer my modest suggestions.

     

    • AlhajiBuba Kano,

    Kano.

  • Navy arrests four for alleged rice smuggling

    The Navy, Forward Operating Base (FOB), Ibaka in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State has arrested four suspects with 120 bags of rice smuggled from Cameron.

    It also impounded three fibre boats with 200, 175 and 150 horsepower Yamaha outboard engines, used by the suspects to ferry the contraband rice to Nigeria.

    Other items seized include generator alongside other items used by the smugglers in their illegal operations.

    Addressing reporters at Ibaka at the weekend during the handover of the suspects and items to the Nigeria Customs Service, the Commanding Officer, FOB, Cpt. Yusuf Idris, represented by Cpt. Reginald Adoki, said the Navy would not cease to apprehend smugglers and expose the new practice of splitting the smuggled rice into smaller boats to evade arrest.

    He said the Navy is committed to ridding the waterways of illegal activities, particularly smuggling, which he described as a perennial problem, noting that the authorities of the Navy had equipped the base with everything they needed to check marine crimes.

    “On behalf of the commanding officer of the base, I hand over these four suspects, all of them Nigerians and 120 bags of 50kg rice, four Yamaha outboard engines, which have 200 horsepower, 175 horsepower and 150 horsepower. There is also one defective generator and other items.

    “Our gun boat intercepted three fibre boats at Mbo river, close to the base, loaded with 50kg of foreign rice suspected to have been smuggled into the country from the Republic of Cameroon.

    “It is my wish to continue to reiterate the commitment of the Navy to rid the waterways of illegal activities, particularly smuggling, which has been a perennial problem in their area. We have observed the use of smaller boats by smugglers to carry the illegal products, thinking that if it is put in bigger boats, it is easily detectable.

    “Their choice of using smaller boats and distributing the rice into three boats was a way of evading arrest. Despite these tactics, the Navy has a more robust and intelligent arrangement that no matter how they try to evade detection, we will always detect them and bring them to book,” Idris said.

    Receiving the suspects and items, the Chief Superintendent of Customs in charge of harbour, Ibrahim Adamu, who represented the Controller, Eastern Marine Command, NCS, Port Harcourt, Elton Edorhe, hailed the Navy for the collaboration existing between them.

    He said it should be sustained.

    “On behalf of the Customs Area Commander, Elton Edorhe, we will like to take this opportunity to thank the Nigerian Navy, FOC Ibaka, for this wonderful seizure. We hope that this synergy and collaboration that have existed will be sustained.

    “I take this opportunity to warn smugglers, no matter the trick they will use in concealing these illegal items; definitely, the Navy will always fish them out. A word is enough for the wise; they should desist from this economic sabotage,” he said.

    Two of the suspects, a driver of one of the boats and his assistant, denied being part of the illegal trade, saying they were only doing their jobs to earn a living.

    The driver, Asuquo Etim, said: “I carry passengers to Cameroon but I used to ply the Bakassi route. I didn’t have passengers to bring back from Cameroon, so I decided to bring the rice. This is my first time of carrying rice. I am an indigene of Oron in Akwa Ibom State.”

    His assistant, Ezekiel Etim from Okobo Local Government, said he was a load carrier at the beach and just wanted to earn a living to support his mother and siblings.

  • ‘Police, FRSC, others abet rice smuggling’

    The Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), has been urged to lead senior members of the Service, a detachment of senior police officers and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) from Abuja to visit Seme and Idi-Iroko borders. Such a visit, it is believed, will enable him see how security officials aid and abet smuggling.

    The unpatriotic officers, it was gathered, are assisting smugglers in frustrating and killing the Federal Government’s policy on local rice production by allowing purposely built vehicles to ply the roads unchallenged.

    When The Nation visited  Seme and Idi-Iroko borders between Thursday and Saturday, last week, there were over 20 checkpoints between Agbara and Seme border and 16 checkpoints between the old Toll Gate at Sango and Idi-Iroko border.

    In spite of the checkpoints, it was gathered that the rate at which rice   and other prohibited items, such as frozen poultry products, used tyres, textile materials, used clothings, vegetables oil and others are being smuggled, is alarming.

    It was also gathered that the illegal activity keep flourishing with the connivance of some unscrupulous officers in Customs, Police, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and other security agents who work at the border areas.

    The smugglers use specilised and purpose-built vehicles to carry out their nefarious activities in the wee hours of the morning, in the evening and sometimes in broad daylight ferrying rice, vegetable oil and frozen poultry products into the country.

    Over 300 of such vehicles used by smugglers were seen at various spots at Mile 2, Alaba-Rago Market, Okokomaiko, Ijanikin, Agbara, Oko-Afo, Araromi Ale, Mowo, Aradagun, Ibereko, Ajara, Badagry and Seme border, when The Nation visited the area at the weekend.

    The story of the converted vehicles was the same at Alakuko, old Toll Gate, Joke-Ayo, Ojoore, Iju, Atan, Lusada, Ketu, Adie-Owe, Apena, Alapoti, Ado and up to Idi-Iroko border when The Nation visited the area last Friday.

    The specially-built vehicles also littered mechanic workshops and other areas on major roads within the border towns.  Their drivers operate with impunity even with the presence of security men, who mounted illegal chek points along the areas.

    Some motorists and residents of the border areas, stakeholders in the maritime industry and rice farmers in Badagry area of Lagos said Col. Ali needed to visit the areas to end the criminalities going on there.

    The visit, a rice farmer, Mr Sunday Gabriel, said would enable the government to assess the poor and questionable attitude of most security agents posted to man border communities and to assist the Customs in checkmating illegal entry of such goods.

    Motorists, specifically accused the Police and the FRSC officials of not doing their job diligently, despite their heavy presence on the two major roads leading to the borders.

    The high cost of rice in the country, a resident of Ajara, Mr Gboyega Emmanuel, said may have added more impetus to the smuggling of the staple food as most of the vehicles used neither have number plates, particulars nor head lamps.

    More than 25 of such vehicles, loaded with smuggled bags of rice, frozen poultry products and vegetable oil were seen discharging their goods at Lusada Market in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State last Friday.

    Traders, motorists, community leaders and other Nigerians, who spoke with The Nation, expressed worries over the trend and the sophistication of the smugglers, adding that smuggling has assumed a frightening dimension as the Yuletide approaches. They urged Col Ali to visit the areas because most of the security agents look the other way while smugglers have a field day.

    It was gathered that in Benin Republic, a bag of rice sells for less than N8,000,  but sells for between N15,500 and N16,500, depending on the quality and size of the the grain, when it gets to the country.

    “There is an urgent need for the Comptroller-General of Customs to visit the border towns of Seme and Idi-Iroko and see the high rate at which smuggled rice and other contrabands are entering the country with the connivance of some police officers, customs and FRSC officials.

    “One wonders what the police and the FRSC officials are doing on the roads if purposely built vehicles that have no number plates, no particulars, no windscreens and no head lamps are plying our roads unchallenged.

    “But the same unpatriotic police officers and FRSC officials that are aiding  and abetting smuggling have the effrontery to stop and delay other commuters and motorists going for their legitimate businesses on the road.

    “The attitude of most our security operatives along the roads leading to the land borders poses danger to lives and has negative effects on international trade and commerce,” Emmanuel said.

    Other stakeholders and motorists spoke  in similar vein,  complaining about the police and FRSC officials’attitude on the roads.

    A clearing agent operating at  Seme border, Festus Solomon, and other operators, wondered why it was difficult for security agents, mostly the police and the FRSC officials to impound all the purposely built vehicles the smugglers are using to sabotage the country’s economy.

  • Checkmating menace of rice smuggling

    There has been indeed an increasing concern especially by operators in the nation’s agricultural sector over the massive importation of certain food items into Nigeria which by all intents and purposes could be produced in the country. Without mincing words, one of the agricultural produce with high rate of importation essentially through smuggling, which has been roughening feathers and stifling the growth of non-oil economy, is rice.

    Rice, a major grain, has very high level of consumption across the country. But which rice do Nigerians consume; locally produced, imported or smuggled rice?

    At the inception of the current administration, President Muhammadu Buhari sounded it loud and clear that Nigerians must produce what they consume. The watchword became less emphasis on imported goods, especially consumables. Backward integration and agricultural revolution policy initiatives were rolled out. Increased attention was paid to local rice production after the rice millers and local rice farmers across the country showed eagerness to embark on massive rice production. Indeed, Nigerians soon discovered that locally made rice have more nutritional value than imported or foreign rice.

    Due to increasing interest in local rice, some operators, in their wisdom, converged under the umbrella of Rice Investors Group (RIG). The vision and mission of the group includes boosting the federal government’s agricultural and industrial revolution plan with the cardinal objective of promoting value chain of the commodity (rice) across the country.

    RIG was also meant to fast track the urgent realisation of the government’s inward-looking initiative by increasing local rice production for guaranteed food security in Nigeria.

    Again, the association was set up to ensure self-sufficiency on rice for the country through encouraging the government to promote investment as well as drive the campaign on less dependent on imported rice in order to eliminate the menace of smuggled rice in the nation’s economy. Investigations by our correspondent show that the rice farmers and miller were really out to sustain and stabilise the sector.

    They started cultivating rice farms across the country as well as establishment of rice mills and other post-production facilities for improved rice production in order to meet local demand and consumption. Example, Olam Nigeria Limited cultivates an estimated 10,000 hectares of rice farm in Doma, Nasarawa State.

    Stallion Group or Popular Foods Limited has an estimated 1, 000 hectares of rice farm. Elephant Group is spreading its tentacle beyond Moniya, Oyo State, to other parts of the country, while Dana boasts an ultra-modern state-of-the-art production facilities, same for Flour Mills, among other rice producing firms.

    Menace of rice smuggling

    However, something went totally wrong concerning local rice production and consumption. According to, a rice seller at Onigbongbo Market, Maryland, Lagos, Mrs. Folashade Abimbola, “local rice has since been scarce because smuggled rice have succeeded in pushing the paddy rice out of the markets. We can’t even see the paddy rice to buy for re-sell; they don’t produce them much again because of unfair competition. Imported rice is cheaper and you know, people go for cheap things.”

    The federal government’s zero-oil economic pursuit is indeed predicated mainly on the potential and potentialities of the nation’s agricultural sector. The agro-allied sector alone could net in for the federal government billions of naira revenue if driven with proper promotional and protectionist policies, stakeholders aver.

    Regrettably, the government, nay the economy, has been losing billions of naira daily due to the nefarious activities of rice smugglers. The minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, stated that smuggling was costing the country $5millon daily. Worse still, rice producers and millers have been the hardest hit of the menace.

    We gathered that rice smugglers are now at their best elements especially those using Nigeria’s porous land borders. Million of bags of smuggled rice are said to come into the country weekly especially from Republic Du Benin. Instead of using trucks or lorries to bring in the commodity, the smugglers have since devised the means of using motor bikes to convey the bags from Cotonou end into Nigeria. They have been beating the men of the Nigeria Customs Service, one insider at Seme disclosed.

    One Okada could load about 10bags of rice at once, and can make 10 or more trips daily. Once the bags are inside the country, there are already buyers waiting to take deliveries and so in this process, Nigeria is daily flooded with smuggled rice.

    To a Lagos-based businessman, Okenze Emenike, Cotonou has become the hub of smuggling business in the sub-region; adding that 80 per cent of goods that come into Benin Republic from other countries are headed for Nigeria.

    “That is why Nigeria is losing, while a small country like Benin Republic is gaining because the duties that are supposed to be paid to our government agencies are diverted to Cotonou. This malpractice has been going on for a long time. We thought that the present administration would tackle the issue of smuggling but unfortunately it is becoming worse,” the businessman regretted.

    According to a stakeholder, Taye Sobowale, smuggling is a monster as far as market share of genuine products is concerned.

    Way forward

    Stakeholders would therefore want the government to tighten the noose against rice smuggling. Something urgent and radical should be done to check the high volume of smuggled goods across the nation’s borders. The government’s economic policy, especially as it affects increased agricultural produce including rice, requires that we all go back to the land; we need to cultivate rice in abundance in order to feed our teeming population, provide jobs for large army of unemployed youths and diversify the nation’s economy.

    The Asian Tigers are what they are today due to the inward-looking orientation and mission of their leaders. “Nigerians found ourselves importing rice from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong kong, India and so on whereas we have been blessed with good climate and abundant arable land,” another stakeholder, Folorunsho Attah, declared.

    An official of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) believes that the federal government’s robust engagements with officials of Benin Republic, Chad Republic, Niger Republic and Republic of Cameroon, would go a long way to tackling the menace of trade malpractices and smuggling.

    As for the former minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Charles Ugwuh, local rice farmers and millers can deliver local rice far cheaper than they produce the commodity if the government restricts imports, deploys a viable quota system to import or encourage the governments of neighbouring countries to maintain high tariff levels on rice in order to protect Nigeria’s borders. Ugwuh, who is also a one-time President of MAN, maintained that Nigeria must make determined efforts to give market access and patronage to locally milled rice that are properly graded.

    According to minister of state, Federal ministry of agriculture, Senator Heinekan Lokpobiri, “The federal government has a challenge of smuggling. All the efforts and achievements recorded both in the fishery sector and in the rice sector, which we are doing excellently well, will be reversed if we do not combat the issue of smuggling.

    “It has a whole lot of problems; it affects our daily existence as a country because today we have been able to create a lot of jobs through agriculture and if smuggling is allowed to continue, the likelihood is that, that will be reversed; there will be more social problems.”

    The minister revealed that one of the measures put in place by the federal government to combat smuggling was the setting up of the committee headed by the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, which he said is working round the clock to ensure that we combat the issue of smuggling.

    Indeed, it is the consensus of stakeholders that the issue of high rate of rice smuggling and its catastrophic consequences on Nigeria’s economy should be decisively checkmated especially for the overall benefit of local rice farmers and millers.

    It will be recalled that in June, Ogbeh threatened to shut land borders with neighbouring country- Cotonou – in order to halt the smuggling of rice into Nigeria.

    The minister said that “shutting the borders has become necessary as smuggling was costing the country five million dollars daily.”

  • Rice smuggling: Fed Govt to shut land border

    The Federal Government will shut down the borders with a neighbouiring country through which rice is smuggled on a large scale, a minister said yesterday.

    Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh, who stated this, added that the action will be taken in a few days’ time.

    Ogbeh spoke in Abuja at a leadership clinic under the auspices of Guardians of the Nation International (GOTNI).

    Although he did not mention the country, the minister said shutting the borders had become necessary to encourage local production and sustain the nation’s economy.

    He said the neighbouring country was bent on destroying Nigeria’s economy by discouraging local production of rice.

    “Our other problem is smuggling.  As we speak, a neighbour of ours is importing more rice than China is importing.

    “They do not eat parboiled rice, they eat white rice, they use their ports to try and damage our economy.

    “I am telling you now because in a few days, you will hear the border has been shut, we are going to shut it to protect you, us and protect our economy.

    “You will start seeing all sorts of negative things on the internet.

    “Let me tell you why we need to shut the border, I grow rice, I was the first Nigerian to mill rice free of stones, if you plant rice in certain parcels of land, some poisonous materials gets into the rice.

    “There are three kinds of water in their natural state; there is fresh water from the river, salt water from the sea, blackish water.

    “If you go to the Delta in many countries, in South East Asia where they grow the rice, if you plant rice in the same place like four to six years continuously, the quantum of arsenic begins to increase and arsenic causes cancer and that is what they are dumping for us.

    “Some people say they prefer Thai rice because they are very sophisticated, welcome to poison,’’ Ogbeh said.

    He said that the Federal Government in two years reduced rice importation by 95 per cent and increased the number of rice farmers from five million to 30 million.

    The minister said that states like Anambra, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Kano, Jigawa were doing well in rice production.

    “We just have to handwork you to prosperity otherwise, this country will not grow. My wish for you is to have a better time that we had,’’ Ogbeh said.

    President of GOTNI Dr Linus Okorie, commended the minister for sharing prosperity experiences with the youth.

    Okorie noted that the leadership clinic was organised by GOTNI to expose young people to practical leadership principle for life success.

    According to him, GOTNI is committed to changing the narratives of poor leadership in Nigeria by consciously developing the capacities of generational leaders.

    “A lot of young people are asking questions, seeking answers to their questions, wish that they have an experienced person who will hold them by the hands and show them the way to achieve success.

    “There are a few people that are readily available to do this; a lot of them are making decisions everyday on the basis of their limited exposure.

    “If Nigeria must make progress, if we must consciously build the next generation of leaders then, we must expose these young people to experienced leaders that have gone ahead for a conscious transfer of knowledge and experiences,’’ he said.

    Some of the youths who spoke at the meeting called for continuous mentorship from leaders, access to finance and low interest rates to assist them in businesses.

    GOTNI is a non-profit youth leadership capital development organisation with a passion to nurture various categories of young people under 40 years of age, into transformational leaders.

  • Rice smuggling: FG to shut land border in few days

    The Federal Government says it will shut down the land border between Nigeria and a neigbouring country in a few days time to avoid smuggling of foreign rice into the country.

    Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, made the disclosure in Abuja on Monday while speaking with youths in a leadership clinic under the auspices of Guardians of the Nation International (GOTNI).

    Ogbeh who did not mention the particular country and border, said that shutting the borders had become necessary to encourage local production and sustain the economy of the country.

    The minister said that a neighbouring country was bent on destroying the economy of the country and discouraging local production of rice, hence the need to shut down the border.

    “Our other problem is smuggling. As we speak, a neighbor of ours is importing more rice than China is importing.

    “They do not eat parboiled rice, they eat white rice, they use their ports to try and damage our economy.

    “I am telling you now because in a few days, you will hear the border has been shut, we are going to shut it to protect you, us and protect our economy.

    “You will start seeing all sorts of negative things on the internet.

    “Let me tell you why we need to shut the border, I grow rice, I was the first Nigerian to mill rice free of stones, if you plant rice in certain parcels of land, some poisonous materials gets into the rice.

    “There are three kinds of water in their natural state; there is fresh water from the river, salt water from the sea, blackish water.

    “If you go to the Delta in many countries, in South East Asia where they grow the rice, if you plant rice in the same place like four to six years continuously, the quantum of arsenic begins to increase and arsenic causes cancer and that is what they are dumping for us.

    “Some people say they prefer Thai rice because they are very sophisticated, welcome to poison,’’ Ogbeh said.

    He said that the Federal Government in two years reduced rice importation by 95 per cent and increased the number of rice farmers from five million to 30 million.

    The minister said that states like Anambra, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Kano, Jigawa were doing well in rice production.

    “We just have to handwork you to prosperity otherwise, this country will not grow. My wish for you is to have a better time that we had,’’ Ogbeh said.

    The President of GOTNI, Dr Linus Okorie, commended the minister for sharing prosperity experiences with the youth.

    Okorie noted that the leadership clinic was organised by GOTNI to expose young people to practical leadership principle for life success.

    According to him, GOTNI is committed to changing the narratives of poor leadership in Nigeria by consciously developing the capacities of generational leaders.

    “A lot of young people are asking questions, seeking answers to their questions, wish that they have an experienced person who will hold them by the hands and show them the way to achieve success.

    “There are a few people that are readily available to do this; a lot of them are making decisions everyday on the basis of their limited exposure.

    “If Nigeria must make progress, if we must consciously build the next generation of leaders then, we must expose these young people to experienced leaders that have gone ahead for a conscious transfer of knowledge and experiences,’’ he said.

    Some of the youths who spoke at the meeting called for continuous mentorship from leaders, access to finance and low interest rates to assist them in businesses.

    GOTNI is a non-profit youth leadership capital development organisation with a passion to nurture various categories of young people under 40 years of age, into transformational leaders.

  • How smuggling stalls rice self-sufficiency target

    Despite being banned, rice smuggling keeps rising. Over two million metric tons of parboiled rice from Thailand and India were smuggled into the country last year, making it impossible for the government to meet its self-sufficiency target in the commodity’s production. Although a new target has been set for 2020, there are fears that it may also not be met, unless the government musters the political will to halt smuggling. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    The Federal Government appears caught between the rock and the hard place in achieving its target for self-sufficiency in rice production.

    Despite inching closer to achieving the feat, rice smugglers through the numerous borders have continued to throw spanner in the works.

    For instance, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Federal Government’s rice revolution had paid off, as 60 per cent of rice consumed in the country is  now produced locally.

    Quoting the Rice Millers, Importers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (RIMIDAN), the Minister said over two million metric tons of parboiled rice were smuggled into Nigeria last year. According to him, the smuggled rice came in through the borders with Benin, Niger and Cameroon.

    He said, for instance, in Benin Republic, the demand for white rice, which is consumed in Benin, against parboiled rice in Nigeria, is 400, 000 mt. Yet, the country, with a population of about 11 million, imports between one million and 1.2 million mt of rice annually.

    “Who are they importing for? Nigerians of course. In fact, as Nigeria’s rice import falls, Benin’s rice import increases. Most of the parboiled rice imported by Benin eventually lands in Nigeria through smuggling,’’ Mohammed  said. He said smuggling was the biggest challenge facing rice production in Nigeria.

    It is easy to see why this is so. For one, the difference in the price of the local and foreign rice as a result of influx of smuggled rice has been a major discouraging factor for rice farmers. This makes people prefer the foreign rice because of the price difference.

    He gave an insight on this disincentive when he said smuggled rice costs between N11, 000 and N13, 000 per 50kg bag, while Nigerian processed rice sells for between N14,500 and N15, 000 per 50kg bag.

    He said the price of local rice was higher because Cameroon and Benin Republic lowered their tariffs on rice to between zero and five per cent to encourage importation and subsequent smuggling into Nigeria.

    Mohammed added that Thailand and India give high subsidies to rice farmers and rice processors, adding, however, that local rice producers had made some representations to the government on how rice could compete favourably, in terms of pricing, with the heavily-subsidised imported rice.

    Perhaps, more importantly, the upsurge in rice smuggling is hurting the Federal Government’s revenue generation efforts. The smugglers, who are seen as the greatest saboteurs, have been ravaging the economy and denying the government huge sums of legitimate revenue.

    For instance, a recent World Bank report on smuggling in Nigeria stated that an astonishing $5 billion (about N1.45 trillion) worth of different goods, including rice, are smuggled into Nigeria yearly through Benin Republic alone.

    The report further noted that over 25 per cent of the total annual revenue collected by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) was lost to smugglers each year. Going by the Customs’ projected revenue for last year, which is approximately N600 billion, it means that the Service may have lost N200 billion in revenue last year alone.

    Smuggled rice also poses serious health challenges to consumers. The minister, at a briefing, raised the alarm over the unhealthy status of smuggled imported rice being dumped in the country. He urged Nigerians to reject the rice. He said the government could not guarantee the healthy status of the rice, having spent months on the high seas and warehouses.

    The minister appealed to Nigerians to complement the government’s efforts by consuming only locally-grown and processed rice, which, according to him, “is fresher, tastier and healthier.”

    “We don’t know where or how imported rice is made or how old it is. It is reported that most of the rice dumped on us are old and probably rejected.

    “The citizens of those countries do not eat this rice. The citizens of Benin also do not eat it. But they send it to us. Unhealthy foods are dangerous to health. So let’s eat what we can vouch for,’’ he said, a fortnight ago while reeling out figures, which indicated that local rice production was growing exponentially.

    Mohammed said for instance,  within two years (September 2015-September 2017), rice importation from Thailand fell from 644,131 MT to 20, 000 MT, representing over 90 per cent drop.

    While putting Nigeria’s current rice consumption at about six million MT of milled rice, he said the country produced 2.5million        MT of milled rice in 2015. By 2017, it rose to 4million MT, leaving a gap of 2million MT. “Our target is to fill that gap by 2020,’’ he said.

    The minister added that from only 13 integrated rice mills in the country in 2015, the number rose to 21 by 2017. Quoting the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN), he said from five million rice farmers in 2015, the number has also gone up to 11 million.

    The administration’s rice revolution has also not done badly from  investment perspective. Alhaji Mohammed put RIPAN’s total investment in the economy at over N300 billion, while upcoming investments would amount to N250 billion.

    He projected that the new investments will add 5, 000 jobs and additional 1,775,000 MT of integrated rice milling capacity, while saving $300 million foreign exchange from import substitution through local processing.

    The minister noted that the new investments were made when Nigeria was in recession, indicating investors’ confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian economy.

    “The investments have not stopped as 15 more mills are about to take off, including the Dangote Rice Mills to be established in six states with a total capacity of about one million MT,’’ he said.

    The minister said with the significant increased production in rice paddy, Nigeria’s rice import bill, which hitherto stood at $1.65 billion yearly, dipped by over 90 per cent.

    He attributed the exponential growth in local rice production, which moved Nigeria closer to ending rice importation, to the sustained implementation of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme launched on November 17, 2015.

    Buhari had in line with his administration’s economic diversification agenda through the agric sector, launched the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to support farmers through input distribution and loans to boost rice production across the country.

    The programme, which is being managed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was also aimed at stabilising input supply to agro processors and addressing the country’s negative balance of payments on food items.

     

    Presidential fertiliser initiative to the rescue

    Apart from benefiting from the ABP, the ongoing rice revolution, The Nation learnt, also drew strength from the setting up of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) in December 2016 by Buhari.

    Set up to deliver commercially significant quantities of affordable and high quality fertiliser at the right time to over 500,000 farmers across the country, the initiative has helped push up fertiliser production capacity to 2.22 million MT.

    To date, the programme, according to the Managing Director, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Mr. Uche Orji, has contributed to the resuscitation of 14 moribund blending plants, which represent 55 per cent of total installed capacity in the country.

    Also, more than six million bags of 50kg NPK 20:10:10 fertiliser have been produced locally and distributed to farmers. Orji stated that after one year of running the programme, the import of finished fertiliser had reduced drastically.

    “For the 2017 wet season, it was estimated that about N60 billion from the 2017 budgetary provisions for fertiliser was saved, while another saving of $150 million was conserved from foreign exchange window,” he said.

    Orji added that the success of the PFI was evidence that Nigeria can sustainably produce fertilisers locally at a reasonable price without subsidy.

    Encouraged by the 2.22 million metric tons made-in-Nigeria fertiliser production capacity, the Federal Government has announced plans to revive 12 moribund fertiliser blending plants to bring to 23 the total number of plants that will partake in this year’s PFI.

     

    Doubts over self-suffiency target

    Although, some of these significant milestones must have galvanised government to declare that the country will achieve self-sufficiency in rice production by year 2020, the excitement and optimism generated by the declaration were however, tinged with fear.

    The thinking, and rightly so, is that without first articulating workable strategies to rein in rice smugglers, government’s latest rice self-sufficiency target may go the way of previous targets that were never realised.

    Recall that Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, had earlier assured that Nigeria will be self-sufficient in rice production by the end of last year.

    Ogbeh had given the assurance at the First International Cocoa Summit, organised by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment in collaboration with Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Abuja, last year.

    Although Chief Ogbeh said then that rice production had improved tremendously across the country as a result of the CBN’s ABP, government failed to meet the target, due largely to rice smuggling.

    Again, sometime this year, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Nigeria will stop rice importation by the end of the year. But as it turned out, the pronouncement was made without recourse to the realities on ground.

    RIMIDAN faulted Osinbajo’s statement. Its Secretary, Shaibu Mohammed, said it was impossible for the country to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production by the end of the year because of the influx of smuggled rice through the land border.

    According to Shaibu, smuggling of the product was frustrating efforts so far put in place by rice farmers towards rice production in the country. The frustration, he stated, stemmed from the difference in the price of the local and foreign rice, as people prefer to buy the foreign rice, which is cheaper.

    Will government summon the political will to halt rice smuggling and address other issues around price instability, quality and harvesting/processing? Answers to these will determine the success or otherwise of the new year 20202 target for rice self-sufficiency.

  • Rice smuggling thrives in Lagos, Ogun, North

    Rice smuggling thrives in Lagos, Ogun, North

    Rice smuggling through land borders is still high despite its ban The Nation has learnt.

    The commodity, which is a staple food in the country, is being brought through the land borders in Lagos, Ogun and part of the North.

    From Idi-Iroko to Owode, Alapoti, Atan and Sango Ota, all in Ogun State, smugglers use bush paths to convey the commodity.

    The smugglers, sources said, are cashing in on the high price of rice to bring it at a cheaper rate.

    Rice is sold for N14,000 per bag. But the smuggled product goes for between N12,500 and N13,000 per bag.

    The smugglers are said to be conniving with some Customs officers.

    The smuggled rice is transported with motor cycles, buses and specially-refurbished vehicles.

    A trader at the popular Lusada Market in Ado-Odo,Ota, Ogun State, who refused to give her name, gave reasons why the trade is booming.

    “I lost a lot of money when the vehicle bringing my rice to Lagos was impounded by Customs in April, along Seme border. The period was very bad for me. But in June, my friend introduced me to a man who will help me in the rice business through the Ado-Odo area and I decided to try it. My experience is that there is not much Customs attention on rice in this area, and the profit we make is higher.

    “If you use Seme axis, the highest profit anybody can make on rice is between N200 and N250 per 50kg bag, while we make between N500 and N600 on 50kg bags of rice through Lusada,” she said.

    She said the demand for rice is high, adding that “business people” continue to travel long distances from inland towns and risk being arrested to smuggle rice.

    Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, she said men and women flock to Cotonou and other neighbouring countries to buy rice and smuggle them in, mostly on Sundays.

     The Nation investigation revealed that there are no Customs’cheek-points between Agbara and Atan and from Lusada to Alapoti and Ado-Odo Ota.

    There is no effective policing of the paths leading to the border by Customs to check the menace.

    The Customs, it was learnt, must strengthen its patrol to track down the smugglers.

  • Rice smuggling thrives in Lagos, Ogun, North

    Rice smuggling thrives in Lagos, Ogun, North

    Rice smuggling through land borders is still high despite its ban The Nation has learnt.

    The commodity, which is a staple food in the country, is being brought through the land borders in Lagos, Ogun and part of the North.

    From Idi-Iroko to Owode, Alapoti, Atan and Sango Ota, all in Ogun State, smugglers use bush paths to convey the commodity.

    The smugglers, sources said, are cashing in on the high price of rice to bring it at a cheaper rate.

    Rice is sold for N14,000 per bag. But the smuggled product goes for between N12,500 and N13,000 per bag.

    The smugglers are said to be conniving with some Customs officers.

    The smuggled rice is transported with motor cycles, buses and specially-refurbished vehicles.

    A trader at the popular Lusada Market in Ado-Odo,Ota, Ogun State, who refused to give her name, gave reasons why the trade is booming.

    “I lost a lot of money when the vehicle bringing my rice to Lagos was impounded by Customs in April, along Seme border. The period was very bad for me. But in June, my friend introduced me to a man who will help me in the rice business through the Ado-Odo area and I decided to try it. My experience is that there is not much Customs attention on rice in this area, and the profit we make is higher.

    “If you use Seme axis, the highest profit anybody can make on rice is between N200 and N250 per 50kg bag, while we make between N500 and N600 on 50kg bags of rice through Lusada,” she said.

    She said the demand for rice is high, adding that “business people” continue to travel long distances from inland towns and risk being arrested to smuggle rice.

    Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, she said men and women flock to Cotonou and other neighbouring countries to buy rice and smuggle them in, mostly on Sundays.

     The Nation investigation revealed that there are no Customs’cheek-points between Agbara and Atan and from Lusada to Alapoti and Ado-Odo Ota.

    There is no effective policing of the paths leading to the border by Customs to check the menace.

    The Customs, it was learnt, must strengthen its patrol to track down the smugglers.

  • Rice smuggling: Fed Govt threatens to shut land borders

    Rice smuggling: Fed Govt threatens to shut land borders

    THE Federal Government yesterday threatened to shut some land borders, following continuous smuggling of rice from neigbouring countries.

    Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Chief Audu Ogbeh gave the warning in Abuja while speaking on some of the Federal Government’s achievements in the agriculture sector in the last two years.

    Ogbeh said the decision had become necessary to encourage local rice farmers and to enable the country achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 2018.

    “We believe they are determined to sabotage the efforts that we are making to guarantee self-sufficiency in rice and to save foreign exchange, which we don’t have.

    “They insist on bringing in rice through the land borders, avoiding the duties and the levies we put on them and they are definitely bent on sabotaging our efforts and we are getting increasingly unhappy with them.

    “And I must say that very soon, if they persist, we will take very nasty measures against them.

    “We will like to advise our neighbours, who believe that the ECOWAS treaty means that Nigeria is a volunteer nation for economic suicide.

    “We have no such plans, destroying our own economy to make any neighbour happy.

    “The ECOWAS treaty, number two, does not suggest that any country can be an avenue of smuggling foreign goods not produced in that country for dumping in his neighbours territory.

    “If they insist, I do not think that government is far away from considering permanently closing certain borders very near us and when we do, nothing will make us change our minds on the issue, ECOWAS treaty or not,’’ Ogbeh warned.

    The minister said the importation of rice reduced from 580,000 tonnes in 2015 to 58,000 tonnes by 2016.

    According to him, by the end of this year, we will eliminate the difference because more people are growing rice in the country.

    He said the Federal Government would distribute no fewer than 200 rice mills to millers to encourage fresh milling of locally produced rice to make them more palatable than the imported ones.

    Ogbeh said the move would save about $5 million for the country daily when achieved.