Rice , the staple food of Nigerians, occupies an important place. According to government statistics, yearly consumption of rice is about 5.5 million tonnes of which local production accounts for about 1.8 million tonnes, thus necessitating the need for importation to bridge the gap. Unfortunately, 50 percent of these imports are smuggled into the country.
It is a fact that the porous nature of Nigeria’s borders is taking its toll on farmers who invest in rice farming, as smuggling of rice into Nigeria through the land borders continue unabated.
The truth is that the unscrupulous persons behind this unwholesome business are not only unrelenting, but are daily intensifying and refining their activities thereby undermining government’s policies and programmes directed at boosting local food production. It is disheartening to note that these persons connive with some bad elements in our security services to perpetrate their illicit acts.
Rice stakeholders, including farmers, want the federal government to review its trade liberalisation agreement among West African states in the face of continued smuggling activities from neighbours.
According to the survey, the country is loosing a whooping sum of N9.7 billion monthly as an estimated 80,000 metric tonnes of rice is smuggled into the country from Benin Republic alone. The potentials of the rice sector are being daily put at risk by the activities of these smugglers and their collaborators.
The truth is that the unscrupulous persons behind this unwholesome business are not only unrelenting, but are daily intensifying and refining their activities thereby undermining government’s policies and programmes directed at boosting local food production. It is disheartening to note that these persons connive with some bad elements in the security services to perpetrate their illicit acts.
The problem of smuggling is much more serious than many people appreciate; it is something which is greatly affecting the food security plans of the federal government as well as the economic agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan. By their actions, these smugglers also threaten the means of livelihood of genuine investors in the rice business, denying the government of tax due them. Smugglers, of course, do not pay tax, so they milk the genuine processors and millers the same way they exploit the government and the economy.
Whilst the government is trying to encourage local production of rice, thereby creating employment, income and value chain, some other people are rubbishing these noble efforts by smuggling the product into the country.
For the federal government’s rice revolution to be successful, stakeholders have said that the issue of massive smuggling of rice into the country needs to be tackled headlong.
According to a group of local growers under the aegis of Patriotic Rice Association of Nigeria, (PRAN), smuggling of rice into Nigeria has thrown the rice industry into turmoil with severe consequences for government revenues, the economy and future plans for rice self-sufficiency. A recent statement jointly signed by the goup’s chairman Alhaji Habibu Maishinkafa, and secretary, Martins Okereke said given the free reign enjoyed by rice smugglers, the future lies bleak for local rice growers and traders legitimately involved in rice trade.
They said the Nigerian rice industry seems to have been thrown into turmoil since the import tariffs were increased exponentially effective January 2013. Matters got complicated further with the reported inability of Nigeria Customs Service to control smuggling of rice across the country’s borders with Benin.
In July 2012, the federal government introduced 20 percent and 25 percent increased levies on imported polished rice and husked brown rice, respectively, with the aim of encouraging home-grown rice and discouraging importation. The government also placed a complete ban on the importation of rice through land borders. This was to ensure that the expected gains from the increase in levy and the subsequent investment in the development of Nigerian grown rice are not eroded by the activities of land border importers (smugglers).
The quantum of rice being smuggled through land from the Republic of Benin is increasing daily. An estimated 30,000 metric tonnes of rice is being smuggled on a monthly basis into Nigeria.
When Rice Millers, Importers and Distributors Association of Nigeria, RIMIDAN, raised these issues with the authorities, they alerted them that over 140,000 metric tonnes of parboiled rice was scheduled to arrive at the ports of the neighboring country.
The implication of this is that huge amounts of money invested in rice production by genuine entrepreneurs would go down the drain and investment in the sector will become uninteresting because there are no measures to protect investors’ interest. In addition, the intention of the federal government regarding empowerment of local producers will be in jeopardy. No economy grows with this kind of counter-productive action by unscrupulous elements.
There is therefore need for the federal government to strengthen its mechanisms for policing the land borders, especially the Seme Border flank, as well as other related areas, where much of these acts are being perpetrated. Countries faced with this kind of challenge go all out to increase land borders’ monitoring so as to curb the activities of smugglers.
President Jonathan and his lieutenants no doubt have a good heart concerning growing the economy through the empowerment of its key components. But their efforts are regularly being threatened by a selfish few, including the rice smugglers who are entrenched in the system. They may be sophisticated and determined, but certainly they cannot match the willpower of the federal government.
