Checkmating Indiscriminate Rice Import Into The Country

Smuggled rice …picture courtesy of the Guardian

By Cami Ezenwa

One of the many issues of concern to stakeholders in the nation’s agriculture sector, is the unbridled and massive importation of certain commodities into the country.

This would not have been of much concern if such import items are not obtainable at home. The irony however is when a product for which the country has comparative local production now becomes the reason for expending scarce foreign exchange.

This is the pathetic case with rice. The high rate of importation of the commodity, majorly through smuggling, is a growing issue of grave concern to patriotic Nigerians.

For one, this scandalizes the Federal Government’s initiative of supporting local farmers; leads to loss of revenue that would have accrued as duty and also aggravates the unemployment situation in the country.

Ironically, at the inception of the current administration, President Muhammadu Buhari, had sounded it loud and clear that Nigerians must produce what they consume.

In other words, there should be less dependence on imported items, so the country could conserve scarce foreign exchange, and also boost agricultural production.

The administration raised enthusiasm further when it rolled out a policy of Backward Integration and Agricultural Revolution.

Not long, Nigerians began to discover that locally made rice have had higher nutritional value, and the confidence of local operators under the auspices of Rice Investors Group (RIG) also soared.

The vision and mission of the group include boosting the federal government’s agricultural and industrial revolution plan with the cardinal objective of promoting value chain of the commodity across the country.
It was obvious that they were committed to encouraging the government to promote investment as well as drive the campaign of less dependence on imported rice

To this extent, they started cultivating rice farms across the country,  established rice mills and put in place post-production facilities in order to meet local demand and consumption.

A example is Olam Nigeria Limited, which cultivates an estimated 10,000 hectares of rice farm in Doma, Nasarawa State as well as Stallion Group or Popular Foods Limited which has an estimated 1, 000 hectares of rice farm.

Also, Elephant Group is spreading its tentacles beyond Moniya, Oyo State, to other parts of the country; Dana boasts of ultra-modern production facilities, same for Flour Mills, among other rice producing firms.

inspite of these however, all is not well with local rice production and consumption.

According to Mrs. Folashade Abimbola, a rice seller at the Onigbongbo, Maryland, Lagos, market, of concern is the scarcity of local rice in the market, and this is because  smuggled rice has 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’, she volunteered.

The federal government’s zero-oil economic pursuit is indeed predicated mainly on the promise of the nation’s agricultural sector.

The agro-allied sector alone could net in for the federal government the expected billions of naira in revenue if properly handled, and this begins with checkmating the activities of the smugglers.

Smugglers still hold sway, smiling to the banks while the economy and rice farmers groan.
Through Nigeria’s porous land borders, millions of  bags of smuggled rice flood the country daily from Republic Du Benin.

Instead of using trucks or lorries to bring in the commodity, the smugglers have since resorted to using caravan of motor bikes to convey the bags from Cotonou end into Nigeria, thereby beating the men of the Nigeria Customs Service

It is such that one Okada could load as much as 10bags of rice per trip. Add return trips and you have a better idea of the problem. Once the bags are inside the country, there are already buyers waiting..
Badagry, Lagos-based businessman, Okenze Emenike, said Cotonou has become the hub of smuggling business in the sub-region; adding that 80% of goods that come into Benin Republic from other countries are headed for Nigeria.

That is why Nigeria is losing, while a small country Benin Republic is gaining. This is 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 daily”.

WAY FORWARD

Stakeholders would therefore want the government to tighten the noose against rice smuggling urgently.

“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 teeing population, provide jobs for large army of unemployment youths and diversify the nation’s economy.

The Asian Tigers are what they are today due to their inward-looking orientation. Nigerians are importing rice from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hongkong, India and so on whereas we have been blessed with good climate and abundant arable land’, another stakeholder, Maxwell Obi, 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, should be exploited to nipping the problem in the bud.

It is expected that the present administration lives true to expectation by tackling headlong, the issue of smugglers hampering its agriculture policy generally, and the issue of local rice farming particularly.

It is one problem which if effectively and promptly tackled, would for this administration, the tremendous goodwill of Nigerians.  It touches on not the economy, but the fabric of survival of millions in the country.