GFMM desk: Following the clampdown on illegal imports by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the price of half bag of rice has gone up by 36.4 per cent as a bag that cost N7,000 is now sold for N11, 000. Also, the price of a bag has gone up by 16.8 per cent from N15, 000 to N18, 000 in some markets in Lagos. A further confirmation of the price with a visit to Abesan, Ipaja and other markets in Lagos, showed that rice dealers have increased the prices from N14, 500 to N17, 500, N18, 000 and N19, 300, depending on the size, brand and quality. This is coming as President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed in Japan, a few days ago, that smuggling around the borders was threatening Nigeria’s agricultural policies. The President had told his Beninoise counterpart, Patrice Talon, on the sideline of the seventh Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD7), in Yokohama, Japan that he would not allow smuggling of the grain at such alarming proportions to continue. Findings by Saturday Telegraph from a global trade portal, Index Mundi, revealed that a total of 2.2 million tons of the grains are expected to be shipped into Nigeria through the neighboring borders before the end of 2019. However, because of the presence of security operatives, a lot of the imports have been trapped at the border communities and routes. It was learnt that Customs officials, acting on intelligent information, were moving from one community to another to evacuate rice stacked in some houses. Findings by our correspondent show that the Service and other security agencies at the border have stopped petty traders and individuals from crossing the border with bags of rice, especially smugglers from Gbagi in Benin Republic. To further stop the influx of other agricultural produce, the NCS Ogun State Command, Idiroko, has also convened a meeting with the Association of Tomato Farmers (ATF) at Idiroko, on how to curb illegal importation of tomatoes into the country. At the meeting, the association said it would cooperate with the Service to produce a list of all farms and their addresses for onward inspection through a joint sub-committee comprising Plant Quarantine, Customs Intelligence Unit, Directorate of State Security (DSS) and the police, among others. According to the group’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Abdullahi Maiwada, the association also promised to produce invoices for all their members in order to distinguish smuggled tomatoes from the locally produced tomatoes, pepper and other perishable goods. Maiwada said: “The implementation of the deliberations has been fully enforced, as smooth passage of locally produced products is being expedited within Ogun State.” He noted that some tomatoes and pepper smuggled from neighbouring Benin Republic were intercepted, saying that significant quantity of the seizures were successfully auctioned openly to the public in the presence of relevant agencies. He said: “A team comprising resident officers of the Command and joint officers of other sister security agencies operating under the border drill code named, ‘Ex- Swift Response’ intercepted five buses suspected to contain fresh tomato and pepper at Ilara/meko and Ijoun axis of Ogun State, the items were suspected to have been smuggled into Nigeria from Benin Republic. “Therefore, considering the perishable nature of the items, the goods were presented to public auction, in line with Customs and Excise Management Act CAP 45, LFN (2004), as amended.” Source: New Telegraph SZK
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