Foreign Rice Still Passes Lagos Ports Despite Prohibition
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that foreign parboiled rice is still imported through the nation’s seaports to bonded warehouses despite prohibition.
Rice is among the items on the federal government prohibition list and it is the spate of its smuggling into the Nigerian market that led to the closure of the borders in 2019.
The service complained that importers engaged in false declaration and concealment in containers to smuggle the grain to their various warehouses without paying necessary duties at the Lagos seaports.
The Coordinator of the Comptroller-General Strike Force Unit, Zone A, Mohammed Yusuf, explained that some bags of rice had been intercepted from a bonded warehouse after it left the Lagos seaports.
The government was promoting self-sufficiency in rice and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has invested in local farmers through Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme (ABS) hence the country’s producers must be supported.
He noted: “I have zero tolerance for sharp practices and based on intelligence and hard work of my officers, we swung into action and this yellow bagged foreign rice, most of them were brought in by unscrupulous importers, who operates in some bonded warehouses without payment of duty. This rice was intercepted based on intelligence and we went to the warehouse and brought the containers. Duties are not supposed to be paid and the containers will just find their way and the warehouse was sealed.
“Terminal Operators noticed that he’s expecting a container and later discovered that the containers have been diverted. We got the intelligence and when we discovered the place, we went and sealed it up. The importer expected that the container was coming into his bonded terminal. We got to the warehouse and right inside, we saw rice stacked. So, it was evacuated and the warehouse has been sealed”.”
These containers of rice were impounded at a warehouse and we know the government is doing its best to ensure production is sustained but because of the insatiable demands for foreign goods, Nigerians are still importing. The government has given a huge sum of money to farmers to improve and of course, it takes some time but if Nigerians are patient, the rice gap will be filled and even the quality will be improved”, stating that the local rice wasn’t as polished as it is now at the initial stage but as the administration goes on, the quality improves and even the packaging.
“What we need is a little bit of time to get it right but people won’t stop smuggling, but as more as they do, we are there to get them.”
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