Nigeria’s bid to be self-sufficient in rice production is being threatened by smugglers, The Nation has learnt.
Lagos and Ogun states are flooded with smuggled rice daily. From Idi-Iroko to Atan and Sango Ota, all in Ogun State, smugglers use bush paths to smuggle the commodity into the country.
The smugglers, Idi-Iroko border sources said, were taking advantage on the high price of the item, which is Nigeria’s staple food, to smuggle it.
Findings revealed that smugglers collect N1,500 to smuggle the item from Owode in Ogun State to Ido and Oyingbo markets in Lagos.
A bag of smuggled rice now sells for between N13,000 and N14,600 at Owode and Seme.
Many of the smugglers, it was gathered, were smiling to the banks with their huge financial returns.
The illicit rice business, investigation revealed, is booming because the Federal Government has discouraged rice importation through the land borders, while it is alleged that some Customs officers are conniving with the smugglers.
Investigation revealed that the smuggled rice is kept on top of motor cycles, passenger buses and specially refurbished vehicles heading for Lagos, Ifo and Sango area of Ogun State.
A rice trader at the popular Lusada Market in Ado-Odo Ota area of Ogun State, who refused to give her name, narrated the reason they were dealing on imported rice from Cotonou.
“I lost a lot of money when the vehicle bringing my rice to Lagos was impounded by Customs in April along Seme border. 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 N500 and N700 per 50kg bag, while we make between N1,200 and N1,350 on 50kg bags of rice throughLusada area,” she said.
She said rice’ demand is so high that ‘business people’ continue to travel long distances from inland towns and risk being arrested to smuggle rice into those axis.
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.
Investigation conducted by The Nation at the week-end revealed that there were no Customs cheek-points between Agbara and Atan and from Lusada to Alapoti and Ado-Odo Ota areas of Ogun State.
Findings also revealed that there was no effective policing of all the paths leading to the border by Customs to check the menace.
Tag: rice smuggling
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Rice smuggling booms at border towns
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Farmers challenge govt on rice smuggling
The Chairman, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Southwest Zone, Mr. Olusegun Atho, has said unless smuggling is tackled, the policy on imported rice will not yield results.
He identified smuggling as the major factor that would hinder the ban on the imported commodity, just as it had adverse effect on local rice production.
He said: “The government needs to come out and deal with the issue of smuggling in order to encourage local growers.”
The Federal Government recently announced the ban on rice importation through the land borders in order to develop local production of the commodity.
But Atho said in Lagos that the government needed to provide more incentives to farmers to become self-sufficient in rice production.
He advised the government to put in place proactive measures to meet the country’s rice demand before banning imported rice.
Buttressing the association’s stand, he said: “I don’t see any reality in the ban. Not until when necessary machinery is put in place should Nigerians expect the gains of the government ban on imported rice through the land borders
“The government should equip farmers with the necessary tools including tractors, organic fertilisers and give adequate training ”
The RIFAN chief also advised the government to provide adequate funding by way of grants or loans to farmers.
“These factors are very important and must be put into consideration, before the ban can yield fruitful results.
“If these things are not in place, the ban cannot be realistic. Until when government begins to do something about it, that is when we can see the seriousness,” he added.
Atho also appealed to the government to construct more dams and provide mini-pumping machines for farmers to prepare them for irrigation farming as well as introduce modern rice production technology.
“If the government can provide all these to farmers, that is when government can boast of self-sustainability,” he said.
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Nigeria risks N200b loss to rice smuggling
Over 1.5 million local rice farmers could lose investments worth N200 billion if urgent action is not taken to check rice smuggling, President, Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN), Abubakar Mohammed, has warned.
He spoke in a chat with reporters yesterday in Abuja.
Mohammed called for presidential directive to check illegal rice smuggling.
He said if the country must be sufficient in rice production, there should be collaborative efforts to end the practice and encourage local rice farmers.
Mohammed, who commended efforts of the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS), towards discouraging arbitrary and illegal importation of the commodity, stressed that about 25 million new rice farmers could be discouraged.
Investigations by the association, he said, indicated “these products are berthed and warehoused at Republic of Benin, Niger and Cameroun at a very little import duties and then push them into the Nigerian markets where they eventually make profit having paid zero duties at our borders.”
He appealed to the federal government to dialogue with neighbouring countries on modalities to set up joint anti-smuggling initiatives in tackling illicit smuggling.
He added that if the neighbouring countries could increase their tarrif to reduce the import, it would further support the move to end illegal importation of the commodity.
Mohammed emphasised the needs for the NCS to partner the Director of Secret Service (DSS) to track perpetrators and bring them to justice.
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Rice smuggling rises as river is left open
Rice smugglers have stepped up operations along the Ogun State axis, fuelling speculations that Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) officials have gone into “slumber”.
About 6,000 bags of rice worth over N50 million were said to have been imported into Lagos last week through Ere River in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of the state.
According to sources, the smugglers started moving their consignment in the wee hours of Friday, last week.
The river, which links Nigeria with Cotonou in Benin Republic to Owode-Apa and Ado-Odo/Ota, also links Gbaji and Badagry Lagoon with the Atlantic Ocean.
During The Nation’s visit, locally made boats were seen offloading rice into about 20 buses, each carrying more than 100 bags enroute Lagos from Itupa in Owode-Idiroko, to Alapoti, Apena and Ketu-Adie-Owe. They stopped at Lusada before entering Lagos.
The Nation spent about four hours trailing the buses.
A source said the smugglers had made more than two uninterrupted trips to Lusada and Igbesa-Iteko.
Ere River is a popular rice smuggling point, through which vehicles and vegetable oil are smuggled into the country.
A commercial motorcyclist spoke of “powerful” people backing the smugglers.
He blamed the high cost of rice for the booming illicit trade.
The Okada man said the number of youths who are into smuggling has grown because of unemployment.
Goods smuggled through the area, he said, included second hand vehicles, textile materials, used cloths, bags, shoes, tyres, rice, frozen chicken, frozen turkey, vegetable oil, soap, furniture, sweets, cigarettes, apples, pineapple and palm oil.
Said the man: “I hope you noticed that these buses are not registered anywhere in the country. Look at their number-plates and you will discover that they are carrying foreign number-plates.
“If you counted the number of people in front of each of the vehicles, they are no fewer than three and if you relate it to the number of buses they used in transporting the rice, you will not count fewer than 60 people per trip.
“Those people sitting with the drivers are carrying guns and they are ready to engage anybody who challenges them on the road.
“A majority of them are also ex-security officers and the few serving ones who have access to arms and ammunition and that was why I told you that it would be dangerous for you to take the picture of the vehicles because if they know that you are trying to take their picture, they would be very brutal if they don’t kill us.”
“The people you saw there are very deadly and they have wasted so many people that have threatened their business,” the cyclist said.
But, a Customs officer denied the allegations that men of the organisation were working with the smugglers.
He said the Customs mounted surveillance in the area because it suspects smugglers have a hide-out there.
Several bags of rice, he said, have been intercepted by some teams in the area.
“Although I don’t know where the river you mentioned is, we cannot deny that smuggling is going on around this place and that is why many of our officers have been posted to curtail the illicit trade.
“Those of us posted to curb the nefarious activities of smugglers in the border areas are not finding it easy.
“It is a difficult task because a majority of those involved are youths from the area and they know the area very well. Don’t forget that we, security officials, are strangers and we are not expected to detect all the routes that smugglers use in a few days. So, if you have detected a new route, it is your duty as a journalist to inform us before telling the public,” the officer said.
Last year, the country was said to have lost over N16.5 billion to smuggling.
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‘N9.7b rice smuggled into Nigeria monthly’
ABOUT 1.6 million bags of rice worth N9.7 bil-lion are smug-gled into the country monthly from Benin Republic, a group, Trans-Border Traders Association of Nigeria (TBTA), has said.
It appealed to the Federal Government to lift the ban on the importation of the commodity through land borders.
The National Co-ordinator of the association, Alhaji Mikky Okunola, said the ban has impacted negatively on investors and the government’s initiatives to encourage local rice production.
In 2011, the Federal Government, in its determination to block revenue loopholes, banned the importation of rice through land borders.
Okunola said if rice was allowed through the seaports only, it waould be available at reasonable prices. And no one would evade duties and levies.
He said genuine importers were required to pay duties and levies, which those engaged in smuggling evade. According to him, this makes smugglers to sell at market price and make excessive profit, or slightly below the market price to undercut honest importers.
He said the policy was aiding rice smuggling, urging the Federal Government to reverse it.
Okunola, however, praised the Seme Border Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) on its efforts to curtail smuggling. He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to lift the ban on rice importation through land borders to reduce smuggling.
He said the raids carried out by Customs at Seme were in order, stating that it was the duty of the Customs to sanitise operations within its legitimate environment.