Tons of Foreign Rice Offloaded at Reopened Borders, Displayed Openly in Shops -RIMAN

Date:

The Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) has expressed its concern over the intense smuggling of rice into the country, following the reopening of some land borders, and the take-off of AFCTA trade agreement.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

Mr. Peter Dama, National Chairman of RIMAN, in a statement obtained by PRNigeria, disclosed that millions of tons of smuggled rice are being offloaded at the reopened borders on daily basis without any interruption, or checks by customs and the security agencies, for onward transportation into Nigerian markets.

According to Dama, the boarders frequently used for the smuggling activities are Babura, Kongolon, Ibadan, Oyo State, SEME, Owede, Benin and so many other illegal routes into the country.

For the Nigerian Government to safeguard its investment and protect rice millers, processors and farmers in this country, he called on Federal Government to take necessary steps in order to stem the tide of rice smuggling.

The RIMAN boss said: “While RIMAN sympathizes with officers and men of the Nigerian customs service together with other security personnel being killed daily by armed smugglers, we call on Nigerian Government to properly equip and compensate adequately all customs officers, manning our borders in order for them to function optimally in the discharge of their duties in order to ensure Rice Smuggling is reduced to the barest minimum.

“Any truck or means of transportation used to transport smuggled Rice into Nigeria, through the boarders be confiscated with the entire goods, while the culprits are arrested and prosecuted and jailed if found guilty.

“We also appeal to the government to set in motion, urgently committees made of various security agencies to raid Nigerian markets and confiscate any smuggled rice found and marketers caught with the smuggled rice products be termed economic saboteurs and be prosecuted.”

Dama, who said some of the smuggled rice are not fit for human consumption, added that Government should take necessary steps to educate citizens on the dangers of consuming smuggled rice order to safeguard the citizens’ health.

“All the confiscated Rice found to be good for consumption should be sent to IDPs, correctional centres and schools for feeding of inmates and students. While stores owned by these unpatriotic economic saboteurs also be sealed up completely, until after paying up fines or after serving prison terms before such stores/shops are reopened.

“We also advise that the Federal Government as a matter of urgency should subsidize Rice Millers, processors and farmers, in the entire Rice value chain in order for us to be competitive. We equally advise that bank accounts linked to rice smugglers distributors and marketers be blocked,” he added.

Naija247news
Naija247newshttps://www.naija247news.com/
Naija247news is an investigative news platform that tracks news on Nigerian Economy, Business, Politics, Financial and Africa and Global Economy.

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

Access Holdings to pay N1.80 as final dividend to shareholder

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. Access Holdings has revealed plans to...

Police gun down two notorious bandits in Benue

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. Men of Operation Zenda, a Joint...

Army declares eight wanted in connection with the k!lling of its officers in Okuama

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. The Nigerian Army has declared eight...

Naira Appreciates Against Dollar at the NAFEM Window

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. The Naira’s euphoric appreciation against the...
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com

Discover more from Naija247news

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading