Standup9ja: 'Truck loads of imported rice smuggled into the
country daily'
Immediate past director of press, ministry of Information,
Peter Dama, says up to 100 truckloads of rice are smuggled across land borders
in Nigeria, with connivance of corrupt customs officials.
In a letter to the comptroller-general of Nigerian Customs
Services, dated April 9, he said the smuggling will threaten the gains of local
rice production so far recorded in the country.
Dama said over 100 truckloads of smuggled rice are
off-loaded daily in big markets in Kano, Jos, Abuja, Lafiya and Katsina states.
Dama, owner of Swomen
Dama farms, in Plateau state lamented that as a result of these illegal
activities, jobs and investment at the rice mills and farms are threatened.
"l believe that some bad eggs within the Nigerian
Custom service and few terrible Nigerians are conniving with these smugglers to
frustrate the efforts of Federal Government in attaining its food security
drive, I am therefore calling on the authorities as a matter of urgency to
intensify its border patrol, and raid stores and warehouses harbouring smuggled
rice" he said.
Dama wants any smuggler caught circumventing the laws to be
executed, and hence called on FG to take urgent steps to curb the smugglers’
activities stressing that they are sabotaging the efforts of governments in areas of food security, self
sufficiency, and rice value chain.
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