‘Border closure will boost local rice production’
An expert in crop production, Akhibi Onoke, has commended Federal Government’s closure of Nigeria’s land borders against illegal smuggling of food items and goods that are locally produced in the country. He said the Buhari administration had displayed the political will to block leakages in accruable revenue the country had lost to smuggling activities at […]
Bags of locally produced rice
An expert in crop production, Akhibi Onoke, has commended Federal Government’s closure of Nigeria’s land borders against illegal smuggling of food items and goods that are locally produced in the country.
He said the Buhari administration had displayed the political will to block leakages in accruable revenue the country had lost to smuggling activities at the borders daily.
Speaking specifically about rice as a staple food in Nigerian households, the expert said the government policy would motivate rice farmers to produce more.
However, he said the stoppage of illegal smuggling of rice through land borders by the Nigerian Customs Service had no doubt, caused a series of frantic activities in the subsector in the past few weeks
“Nigerians have been forced to rely largely on local supplies; hence forces of demand and supply are pushing prices up and creating serious concerns for citizens, who are already battling with the spectre of low disposable income. And they are now compelled to purchase the commodity at over 30 per cent above the regular price.
“Faced with this reality, some even wish that the borders are re-opened and smuggling allowed to continue unabated.
“The truth is that any price anomaly currently being witnessed by consumers in this subsector is only temporary and will be quickly corrected by market forces, which will not entertain a vacuum,’’ he said.