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Tuesday, December 6, 2016
FG stops 571,000 tonnes of rice from entering Nigeria
The Federal Government on Monday announced that
571,000 tonnes of foreign rice warehoused in neighbouring countries were being
targeted for the Nigerian market for the Christmas and New Year season, but
vowed to stop their entry. It also stated that Nigeria recently took delivery
of 110 rice mills in its bid to enhance local production so as to commence the
exportation of white rice from next year. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who disclosed these in Abuja, stated that some
of Nigeria’s neighbours, particularly the Republic of Benin, were not moving
goods within the region as required by relevant treaties. He, however, stated
that the Federal Government would henceforth check all illegal movements of
food and non-food items into Nigeria from the neighbouring countries.Ogbeh
said, “What they do is that they import goods, station themselves at our
borders and then smuggle them into Nigeria. For instance, the Republic of Benin
doesn’t eat parboiled rice. They eat white rice. But all the rice that comes
from the borders into Nigeria is parboiled.“I have a list now of all the ships
that left Thailand in the last seven weeks and they’ve arrived; 571,000 tonnes
of rice waiting to enter Nigeria for Christmas. But we won’t allow that. We
have to review the treaty in the region, because we are at the losing end. Why
are we doing this? It is because this rice is not definitely grown in the
Republic of Benin.” He added, “They bring tomato paste and chicken not produced
in the Republic of Benin and because the Nigerian market is so huge, that they
want to exploit it. But no economy out of sympathy should damage our own. Source:
Punch
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