Rice smuggling Booms High at Borders towns

Nigeria’s bid to be self-sufficient in rice production is being threatened by smugglers, The Nation has learnt.Lagos and Ogun states are flooded with smuggled rice daily. From Idi-Iroko to Atan and Sango Ota, all in Ogun State, smugglers use bush paths to smuggle the commodity into the country.The smugglers, Idi-Iroko border sources said, were taking advantage on the high price of the item, which is Nigeria’s staple food, to smuggle it.Findings revealed that smugglers collect N1,500 to smuggle the item from Owode in Ogun State to Ido and Oyingbo markets in Lagos.A bag of smuggled rice now sells for between N13,000 and N14,600 at Owode and Seme.Many of the smugglers, it was gathered, were smiling to the banks with their huge financial returns.The illicit rice business, investigation revealed, is booming because the Federal Government has discouraged rice importation through the land borders, while it is alleged that some Customs officers are conniving with the smugglers.Investigation revealed that the smuggled rice is kept on top of motor cycles, passenger buses and specially refurbished vehicles heading for Lagos, Ifo and Sango area of Ogun State.A rice trader at the popular Lusada Market in Ado-Odo Ota area of Ogun State, who refused to give her name, narrated the reason they were dealing on imported rice from Cotonou.“I lost a lot of money when the vehicle bringing my rice to Lagos was impounded by Customs in April along Seme border. My experience is that there is not much Customs attention on rice in this area, and the profit we make is higher.“If you use Seme axis, the highest profit anybody can make on rice is between N500 and N700 per 50kg bag, while we make between N1,200 and N1,350 on 50kg bags of rice throughLusada area,” she said.She said rice’ demand is so high that ‘business people’ continue to travel long distances from inland towns and risk being arrested to smuggle rice into those axis.Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, she said, men and women flock to Cotonou and other neighbouring countries to buy rice and smuggle them in mostly on Sundays.Investigation conducted by The Nation at the week-end revealed that there were no Customs cheek-points between Agbara and Atan and from Lusada to Alapoti and Ado-Odo Ota areas of Ogun State.Findings also revealed that there was no effective policing of all the paths leading to the border by Customs to check the menace.