Senate orders custom suspend lifting ban of rice through land borders

Senator Barau Kibrin, Kano North

The Nigeria Senate chambers has nullified the custom proposal of lifting ban of rice through the road borders saying all imported rice should go through the sea port for proper accountability and monitoring.

 Senate rice committee on waiver and import has recommended to the upper house the need to stop the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) from lifting the ban on rice as being stipulated by the 2014 policy through the road borders saying there is no economic sense in the idea stressed that the 2014 rice policy was well spelt out to ensure local development and self sufficiency by 2017 if all directives had been properly followed, pointed that the custom mandate was to ensure implementation rather than making policy. The committee stated that anybody bringing rice through road borders has got ulterior motive because there is no economic sense in it than fraud.

The Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki who approved the committee’s request at the consent of the majority said that “ Distinguished Senators, this matter is very important because its affects not only the issue of revenue, but also affect the sustainability of policies that are going to assist the agricultural sector. I do not want us to be sentimental but rather to look it from the angle of logic. My view is that I don’t want to be convinced why anybody will go to the border and incur extra cost on a business unless there is an intension to defraud the country. And I think as we have now known, we must support our local farmers and ensure that the issue is well addressed. This motion will strongly advice the Nigeria Custom Service to suspend the lifting of the ban on importation of rice through the land borders and ensures the passing through the sea borders”

Read the excerpts of all the senators that spoke on the floor of the chambers after the committee’s recommendation that was read by the Sen. Donald Alasoadura. They include Sen. Shehu Sani Kaduna, Sen. Basssey Albert Akpan (North East) Sen. Burau Jibril (Kano West) Sen Magataka Wamakko (Sokoto North) Sen. John Enoh, Cross River Central, Sen. Abdullahi Gumel, Jigawa North West, and Sen. Joseph Utazi Chukwuka.

Sen. Shehu Sani, Kaduna state “My position on this is that the first recommendation that we should suspend the ban lifted on the importation of rice through the road land borders. I see it simply as a clear attempt to monopolize this importation through the sea. It has no any patriotic value. It is simply about giving the rice importers through the seaport the monopoly of bringing rice to Nigeria. All that we need to do is to step up the activities of the standard Organization of Nigeria and Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service at the borders so that if we are for rice importation, we should be allowed to be importing from anywhere. And if we are not for it, we must now say clearly that rice importation is wrong and then empowered our farmers to start farming rice but this report, I see it more as document for rice importers from the seaport”.

Sen. Bassey Albert Akpan ,Akwa-Bon, North East “  by the privilege of this senate chamber, i was a member of this committee. Mr. President what this report tries to show is that in 2014, there was a major policy on rice, and the policy was properly formulated with backward integration plan. And the objective of this policy was to protect the local producers, encouraged employment generation activities that will ensure that by 2017 Nigeria is self sufficient in rice production with proper and well articulated employment generation capable for our domestic production. We need to understand this. And this policy was clearly highlighted which I believe very strongly that the Nigeria Custom Service duty is to implement the policy. 

This is clearly defined case of a policy summersault. Mr. President and distinguished colleagues, I was privileged about two weeks ago to visit a few rice mills in the south west of Nigeria, the rice mill at Ikorodu, a joint venture between the government of Lagos states and one of the major rice producers in the country. 

Mr. President we are amazed that the factory has been short down. This factory has the capacity of providing employment for over 300-400 Nigeria youth due to smuggling of rice into the country through the borders. We are not saying rice through the borders of Nigeria is bad but all we are asking is, do we have the structures that will ensure appropriate duties are paid? And Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, if you look at the revenue collections of Nigeria Custom Service, rice duties account for 50% of its  total collection which underscore the importance of this commodity due to our population in this country. We must ensure that the right things are done. I support this report Mr. President as I urge this senate that the finding of this report must be taken very seriously for this country to move forward”.

Sen. Burau Jubril, Kano West, “ Mr. President, it is a fact that in line with national interest, we must encourage rice production in this country so that we can be self sufficient in this country and stop importing rice by any other means. Unless and until we do that, there is need to provide opportunity for our business men, either big time, or small or medium scale business people. Mr. President, the newspaper review this morning that we all watched tells a story about lobby of the major rice importers; one of their lobbyists pays certain amount of money going to several millions of Naira, or something billion into a certain account that is under investigation. This shows the amount of corruption that is within the system of rice importation arrangement in this country. 

There is big fraud there. Who did that? The big rice importers did so. Now this report is saying they should only allow then to import rice into the country. There is something fishy, I am not convinced. I come from Kano, we have small rice importers, because they did not have big time lobbyist, so their interest is not taken care of.  The issue is this. If you are sure that custom and other agencies involved in the process of bringing rice into this country can do their job properly at the port, you should encourage them to do so at the borders. And what is the guarantee that they can do a proper job at the port. You still cannot guarantee that. 

For this reason, we should give equal opportunity to all Nigerians either big time or small time and big importers. Encourage custom and other agencies to do proper job at the border to ensure that the country is not short changed otherwise, then something is wrong somewhere, we cannot allow this kind of things to happen when you protect others and leave others to go to hell. Mr. President this is my summation”

 Senate President “ the members of the committee, I think we need some guidance to know what the issue is all about because some of the people that have contributed seem to see imports coming from the land as giving opportunity to small scale importers because I heard people talking whether there is monopoly by the sea importers. But the question is that could the rice being brought by the small scale importers bought in smaller quantity from the seaport since the neighboring countries don’t grow the rice. Secondly I want the committee to help us explain why an importer wants to pay an extra cost going through the road. What is the business sense in that? I want a member of the committee to please guide us. Thirdly, how does this help the small scale importers? This is important to help us have a kind of guidance on our discussions”.

Sen. John Enoh, Cross River Central “Mr. President, having to bring the rice through the seaport and land, through the port, you will pay 70%, and through the land you pay 5%. If you look at the finding of the committee, it goes beyond recommendation of the items (7). I want everybody to open to item 7. The committee found that any importer that import 5-10 ship load or vessels of rice into Benin Republic and get them into Nigeria border through the land already had pre determined motives to cheat Nigeria Government through duty evasion. And there is no justification for any importer to import par boiled rice that is meant for Nigeria by discharging it at Cotonue at 5% and load the same consignment into truck when he will pay transport cost of an average N400, 000.00 per truck to Nigerian border and on arrival still pay duty of 30-40 %. The committee does not see logic in it. What we are saying is simple. 

The contribution that have been made earlier suggested that the entire rice policy needs over haul, but this committee was given a specific assignment to investigate the lifting of ban on rice importation to the border and this recommendation and finding are specific, the position of the committee is that the country is more able to actually monitor and control what comes through the sea border than the land borders. 

The committee finds out that the leakages were too high to allow this kind of policy to stand; therefore the recommendation is specific to the fact that unless we are able to develop the essential infrastructure for this importation through the land border, there may not be need for it. For example, from Benin Republic to Cotonue, how much rice do they grow internally, the fact is all the imported rice there is meant to be transfer to Nigeria market. What we are saying is that anybody with that kind of capacity to import that much loads of rice should do so through the seaport. Anybody who goes there, go with an intension to cheat the Nigeria people and that is why the committee is making the recommendation that it has made here”.

Sen Abdullahi Gumel, Jigawa North West “ Mr. President, let me correct an impression first, the impression I wanted to correct is that the rice that comes through the land borders are being given to small importers by the big importers as just distributors. They are not the one importing the rice, they are only helping to smuggle them in and distribute them. This is exactly what is happening, so going to the report Mr. President, I think the report is good and that this rice thing Mr. President, we better agree with it as rice is our stable food in this country and as such, we have to give it the political will and look at it not only from importation of rice millers but also looking  at it holistically, the ministry of agriculture, water resources must devise a way to the state government so that in each state they will use farmers as outgrowers with provision of 25-30 hectres in each state. Mr. President, we started this thing that time you were governor in Kwara state, I think we have some few states like Gombe, Jigawa and the whole senatorial district of Hadeja and Kano where Sen. Shittu comes from are also doing the same with provision of input incentives”.

Sen.Utazi Chukwuka, Enugu North Central District “ Mr. President, the committee has done an extensive job going by further explanations given  by Sen. Albert and Enoh. It is a sum message with specific point. But I want to say that this importation of rice into the country is a serious issue. We have also noted allowing this into 2017 will amount into taking the interest of this nation not too serious despite the desire the Custom to impress us that they are working by making money for us. Nigerian Custom Service must not put the interest of Nigerians at stake despite that they want to make money. All of us who have businesses in the North know how porous our borders are due to lack of man power. So in order to save guard our corporate existence here, and also make sure accountability to everything that comes into this country for goodness sake, then everybody should go through the sea port and let there be manifest for all the thing we will be doing”