• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • Chinese nationals jailed in Lagos

      Court Jails Nine Chinese Nationals for Cybercrime in Lagos

      ASUU

      Tackle Corruption, Institutional Decay – ASUU Charges FG

      EFCC Arraigns Bauchi Accountant General Over N8bn Fraud as Court Sentences…

      PRNigeria logo fearured image

      EFCC Arraigns Ex-Convict, Other for Naira Abuse in Lagos

      EFCC Arrests 37 Suspected Internet Fraudsters in Ilorin

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • Customs Diplomacy: Nigeria, Saudi Arabia Ink Mutual Assistance Deal

      Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Nigeria, Belarus Forge Alliance to Combat Smuggling, Facilitate Trade

      President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and CG Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

      Tinubu Hails Customs Boss Wale Adeniyi on Historic Election as WCO…

      WTO Lauds Nigeria Customs for Embracing Global Trade Standards

      Nigeria, Rwanda Sign Landmark Tax Treaty to Boost Cross-Border Investment

  • National
    • Arewa Discussion Group

      Arewa Discussion Group Launched to Tackle Northern Challenges

      NELFUND

      NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application Portal

      Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa, National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Major General Olufemi Olatubosun Oluyede,

      Security Watchdog Hails NSA, Military for Anti-Terrorism Successes

      IGP Kayode Egbetokun Police Boss

      IGP Egbetokun: Leading the Charge for a Safer Nigeria By Danjuma…

      Police Officer

      Police Rescue 29 Captives, Arrest 3 Suspects in Kogi, Lagos, Katsina

    • Government
      • Tinubu Seeks Visa Waivers, Scholarships as Nigeria Establishes Diplomatic Ties with…

        Malam Yusuf Abubakar Dingyadi

        Dingyadi, PDP Chair’s Vocal Spokesperson, Resigns

        Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar

        Ambassador Tuggar’s Doctrine of Calm in a World on Fire By…

        A brief travelogue by Fredrick Nwabufo

        Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack

        18 Workers, Two MDAs Honoured as Federal Civil Service Week Ends

  • Security
    • PRNigeria logo fearured image

      Yellow Danbokkolo, Mastermind of Shinkafi Massacre, Killed by Troops

      Police Officer

      Kano Police Confirm Death of Armed Robber After Foiled Attack on…

      Nigerian Navy Personnel

      Navy Arrests Suspected Militant, Recovers Machine Gun in Bayelsa

      Police Nab Two for Cement Diversion Across Four States

      Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa, National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Major General Olufemi Olatubosun Oluyede,

      Security Watchdog Hails NSA, Military for Anti-Terrorism Successes

  • Features
    • IGP Kayode Egbetokun Police Boss

      IGP Egbetokun: Leading the Charge for a Safer Nigeria By Danjuma…

      NDLEA Logo

      Drug Culture in Nigerian Music: When Art Imitates Harm By Arafat…

      Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar

      Ambassador Tuggar’s Doctrine of Calm in a World on Fire By…

      A brief travelogue by Fredrick Nwabufo

      WTO Lauds Nigeria Customs for Embracing Global Trade Standards

  • State
    • Arewa Discussion Group

      Arewa Discussion Group Launched to Tackle Northern Challenges

      Police Officer

      Kano Police Confirm Death of Armed Robber After Foiled Attack on…

      Nigerian Navy Personnel

      Navy Arrests Suspected Militant, Recovers Machine Gun in Bayelsa

      Tinubu Seeks Visa Waivers, Scholarships as Nigeria Establishes Diplomatic Ties with…

      Plateau Delegation Visits Zaria Over Mangu Killings

  • Event
    • NELFUND

      NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application Portal

      EFCC Witness: Yahaya Bello Had No Property Dealings With EFAB

      Hon. Rukayat Motunrayo Shittu (RMS), with PRNigeria Ladies in PR I'm Abuja

      Rukayat Shittu Set to Publish Inspirational Book “Cracking the Glass Ceiling”,…

      Chief Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo

      Former Kwara Governor, Chief Adebayo, Dies at 84

      Managing Editor of Image Merchants, Mr Abdulrahman Abdulraheem, PR Expert, Celestine Achi and the Editor-in-chief, Yushau Shuaib presenting the book to PRNigeria center

      PRNigeria Commends New Book on Artificial Intelligence in Public Relations

    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Home Economy Over 70% of Rice in Nigerian Markets are Foreign Investigations, NCS, CBN...
  • Economy

Over 70% of Rice in Nigerian Markets are Foreign Investigations, NCS, CBN React

By
Prnigeria
-
April 3, 2019
imported rice
imported rice

Over 70% of Rice in Nigerian Markets are Foreign- Investigations
…. Customs, CBN React

Despite concrete and visible interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) via the Anchors Borrowers Programme (ABP) on the rice sub-sector of the Nigerian economy, over seventy percent (70%) of rice in Nigeria markets are foreign or imported.

In a three-week survey on the rice market across the six geopolitical zones in the country, Economic Confidential team observed that foreign rice such as Mama Gold, Royal Stallion, Rice Master, Caprice, Falcon Rice and Basmati are sold alongside Nigerian rice namely: Umza and Fursa Crown from Kano, Mama Happy from Niger, Labana Rice from Kebbi, Olam Rice from Nasarawa, Abakaliki Rice from Ebonyi, Ofada Rice from Ogun State, Swomen Dama from Plateau, Lake Rice of Lagos/Kebbi States among others.

The Nigeria Customs service (NCS) and the CBN has reacted to the latest report.

Stakeholders in the rice subsector, namely, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) and Rice Processors Association of Nigeria(RIPAN) however gave kudos to the apex bank for the timely intervention and banning of rice since 2015, a development that has seen alarming growth in local production of rice and serious saving of foreign exchange.

The stakeholders in separate interviews laid the blame for the inflow of the banned commodity on the doorsteps of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS), adding that for the federal government to make meaningful impact in its fight against smuggling of the commodity, serious attention must be paid to the various porous borders which the Nigeria Customs Service has the constitutional responsibility to man.

The development is coming almost four years after the federal government banned the importation of the commodity through land, sea and air.

As part of efforts to reach different markets across the six geopolitical zones of the country, the investigative team spread its dragnet to Singer Market Kano; Utako Market, Abuja; Terminus Market Jos; Mile 3 Market Port-Harcourt; , Main Market, Onitsha; Ogbete Market in Enugu, G-Cappa Market, Lagos and Jimeta Main Market – Yola.

On-the-spot checks by this intelligence magazine show the preponderance of foreign rice in these markets by merchants who said that profits coming from foreign rice far out-weigh the local rice whom majority of those interviewed believed has more nutritional value than the foreign rice.

The dealers buy local rice at about N13,000 per 50kg bag, while they sell it customers for between N15,500 to N16, 000. The same merchants pay about N11,000 for the smuggled foreign rice and sell to consumers between N17,500 and N19,000 per bag.

Speaking on the disparity between the cost of local rice and smuggled foreign rice, Paul Nwadike, a rice distributor at Ogbete market in Enugu said “My brother, let me tell you that gains we receive from selling foreign rice is more than the local rice because local rice is more costlier.”

Auwal Mukhtar a merchant in Singer Market Kano said: “There is more market for us in foreign rice because it’s cheaper.”

Nwadike said. ‘tell them to bring the cost of local rice down” he pleaded.

Another rice merchant Mustafha in Utako Market Abuja noted that “I try as much as possible to buy foreign rice because my customers prefer them and they are cheap’, he said.

Read Also:

  • Terrorist Kingpin Yellow Danbokkolo Eliminated After Clash with Troops in Sokoto
  • Arewa Discussion Group Launched to Tackle Northern Challenges
  • NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application Portal

Asked whether the quantity of local rice in the market more than the foreign rice is, they said no!

The same go for Terminus Market Jos, Mile 3 Market Port-Harcourt, Main Market, Onitsha.

They were reluctant to disclose how they got large supplies of foreign rice.
One of them said: “Bros (short for brother) you want to spoil our business? How can we tell you the source of our business?”

The rice traders in separate interviews attributed the upsurge of rice smuggling to the ineffectiveness of customs service urging the government to take necessary steps to overhaul the Customs and its strategies to combat the menace.

When contacted, the spokesperson of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Joseph Attah lamented the deadly activities of rice smugglers in Nigeria.

Attah said: “How much efforts are really enough. All our warehouses and available places are filled up with seized smuggled rice. The smugglers are becoming so deadly as a number of death have beeng recorded from our confrontations with them.

“In fact the Federal Government recently gave a directive that rice and other relief materials in the warehouses should be distributed to orphanages and Internally Displaced People Camps to address the plights of the victims as well as to free the warehouses.

“We now urge the major stakeholders to join us in the campaign against the deadly activities of smugglers through advocacy and sensitizations that will lead to attitudinal changes in the part of the smugglers.”

Also speaking on the same vein, the Central Bank Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor said while agreeing with many Nigerians that local rice has more nutritional value than foreign rice however disagreed with our survey that the quantity of foreign rice in Nigerian market far outweigh the local arguing that the apex bank through its intervention has put smiles on the faces of rice farmers and other stakeholders in the value chain .

“I don’t know the parameters used in your survey in terms of quantity of rice both foreign and local. But I can assure you that Nigerians would not like to go back to the dark days of rice importation”, the CBN spokesperson said.

However, late last year, Economic Confidential recalls that the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) debunked the report by the United States Department of Agriculture World Markets and Trade that Nigeria imported three million metric tons of rice in 2018.

The US report had said the import figure is 400,000 metric tonnes higher than the quantity of the product that was imported in 2017.

The report also stated that Nigeria’s local rice production dropped from 2016 to 2018 compared to the situation in 2015.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s neighbour, Republic of Benin however recorded an increase in rice imports from Thailand, from 805,765mt in 2015 to 1, 647,387mt as at November 2017.

Though government had claimed a reduction in the importation of the commodity, existing statistics should be a cause for concern as only Nigeria consumes parboiled rice while Benin prefers white rice, an indication that rice imported to Benin are being smuggled to Nigeria through the land borders.

Economic Confidential wholly agree that while legally imported rice continue to decline, majority of rice in the Nigerian markets are imported smuggled rice for which the country loses huge revenue that should have accrued to it. Despite the ban, smuggling of rice has continued to thrive as huge quantities of the commodity flood the local market daily.

VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa/
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • Nigeria
  • Rice
  • RIFAN
  • riman
  • ripan
  • smugglers
Previous articleJustice Onnoghen Closes Case at CCT
Next articleList of Kwara State 80-Member Transition Committee of Governor-Elect Abdulrahman Abdulrazak
Prnigeria
Prnigeria
https://prnigeria.com
PRNigeria is the pioneer Press Release Distribution agency in Nigeria. A member of image Merchant Promotions limited, PRNigeria encourages individuals and organisations to be more transparent in their information management. with dedicated Editorial staffs, the PRNigeria ensures that information provided on its platforms are timely, factual and authoritative Read more at: //prnigeria.com/about/
Facebook Twitter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

FACT-CHECK: Did Borno Governor Zulum’s Wife Lift Primary School Mate Out of Poverty in Viral Video?

Fact-Check: Did Saudi ‘Sleeping Prince’ Wake Up After 20 Years in a Coma?

Fact Check: Does Rat Faeces Cure Appendicitis as Claimed in Viral Video?

FG Officials Arrives S’Arabia for Business Mogul Aminu Dantata’s Burial in Madinah

Police Officer

Police Rescue 29 Captives, Arrest 3 Suspects in Kogi, Lagos, Katsina

Customs Diplomacy: Nigeria, Saudi Arabia Ink Mutual Assistance Deal

Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

Nigeria, Belarus Forge Alliance to Combat Smuggling, Facilitate Trade

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and CG Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

Tinubu Hails Customs Boss Wale Adeniyi on Historic Election as WCO Chair

Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack

18 Workers, Two MDAs Honoured as Federal Civil Service Week Ends

BREAKING: Famous Business Mogul Aminu Dantata Passes On at 94

WTO Lauds Nigeria Customs for Embracing Global Trade Standards

Nigeria, Rwanda Sign Landmark Tax Treaty to Boost Cross-Border Investment

LEAVE A REPLY Cancel reply

Log in to leave a comment

Recent Posts

  • Yellow Danbokkolo, Mastermind of Shinkafi Massacre, Killed by Troops
  • Arewa Discussion Group Launched to Tackle Northern Challenges
  • NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application Portal
  • Kano Police Confirm Death of Armed Robber After Foiled Attack on Household
  • Navy Arrests Suspected Militant, Recovers Machine Gun in Bayelsa
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
Latest News
Yellow Danbokkolo, Mastermind of Shinkafi Massacre, Killed by TroopsArewa Discussion Group Launched to Tackle Northern ChallengesNELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application PortalKano Police Confirm Death of Armed Robber After Foiled Attack on HouseholdNavy Arrests Suspected Militant, Recovers Machine Gun in BayelsaTinubu Seeks Visa Waivers, Scholarships as Nigeria Establishes Diplomatic Ties with Saint Lucia, OECSPolice Nab Two for Cement Diversion Across Four StatesFACT-CHECK: Are Travelers in Kogi Under Attack by Armed Fulani Herdsmen?FACT-CHECK: Did Borno Governor Zulum's Wife Lift Primary School Mate Out of Poverty in Viral Video?Fact-Check: Did Saudi 'Sleeping Prince' Wake Up After 20 Years in a Coma?Fact Check: Does Rat Faeces Cure Appendicitis as Claimed in Viral Video?Security Watchdog Hails NSA, Military for Anti-Terrorism SuccessesIGP Egbetokun: Leading the Charge for a Safer Nigeria By Danjuma S. MusaISWAP Terrorists Eliminated While Planting IEDs on Borno HighwayFG Officials Arrives S'Arabia for Business Mogul Aminu Dantata’s Burial in Madinah
X whatsapp