By Bisi Oladele, Southwest Bureau Chief
FACTS have emerged on why the Oyo/Osun Area Command of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) refused to accept the 1,800 bags of rice returned by the Oyo State Government.
The state government returned the rice last Wednesday, but the NCS Area Command in Ibadan refused to accept the returned rice.
It said only its national headquarters can direct it to collect the rice back. But The Nation gathered exclusively that the Customs would not collect the returned rice because of its possibility of infecting other bags still in the warehouses, because it was not ready to collect what it did not give out and because the state government did not follow procedure in returning the rice.
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A source close to the command told The Nation that taking such bad rice to the warehouses would open those in stock to infection, adding that it also sounded odd for the command to collect bad rice when it gave out good 1,800 bags that were inspected and certified good by state government officials.
Besides, the source said the command found it strange that the state government did not contact it as partners in progress before announcing that the rice was bad. Since the state government chose the path it considered best, the command also chose to follow protocols in handling the rice issue.
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