Customs tighten Nigeria-Benin Republic borders, Deploy more Officers to tackle Illegal Importation of Rice
- The Nigeria custom has announced its plans to heighten security at the nation’s land borders so as to curb smuggling activities
- This move according to the Customs, was to bring to a halt rice smuggling into the country through land borders like the Republic of Benin
- Meanwhile, the federal government confirmed recently the increased smuggling of rice into Nigeria and planned to address the issue
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Abuja- The closure of Nigeria's land border since August 2019 was to reduce the smuggling of goods and boost agricultural production.
Some goods are smuggled into Nigeria through its land borders and the Nigerian Customs Service revealed they are not really healthy for consumption but considering the nation's population, Nigeria seems to be the dumping site of expired goods.
The fight against smuggling continues but despite the ban placed on rice imports, rice is still smuggled into Nigeria through land borders.
Source: Original
The Punch reports that Customs has tightened security at the nation’s borders with the deployment of more of its officers especially to the gateways between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin as well as other places.
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The move, the NCS said, was aimed at curtailing the activities of rice smugglers.
Rice Producers Association of Nigeria
The development came barely 24 hours after the Director-General, Rice Producers Association of Nigeria, Andy Ekwelem, said that over 566,000MT of rice from Thailand and India had arrived in the Republic of Benin.
Ekwelega explained that almost all the bags of rice shipped into Benin Republic were smuggled into Nigeria owing to the large population of the country and the market size.
The federal government's position
The federal government had also confirmed on Sunday, November 7, that there was an increase in the smuggling of rice into Nigeria.
As such, the government said it had convened a meeting involving the NCS and other security agencies to re-strategise on how to address the ugly trend.
Speaking on Monday, November 8, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer, NCS, Timi Bomodi, said:
“It is always like that at the end of the year, we anticipated this and more officers are going to be deployed to the borders to check the smuggling”
The Deputy PRO, at the NCS headquarters in Abuja, stated that while the exact number of officers to be deployed was yet to be determined, the deployment would cut across the service’s various units.
Partner with other agencies
He added that the Customs and the federal government had been working closely with the authorities in Benin Republic to address the trend.
Speaking further, he said that the service had adopted the ECOWAS protocol on the movement of goods in transit to monitor commodities that got to the country’s borders and embarked on sensitisation programmes to enlighten host communities on the dangers of smuggling.
Food price hike: Women journalists lament rising cost of foodstuffs, others
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that food prices in markets across the country have continued to rise and this bothers on the pace of most businesses in the country.
The increment has become a daily occurrence as traders are confused about the fluctuation in the prices of major goods in the market.
Recently, the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists expressed deep concern over the spate of insecurity in the country and the rising cost of food items, cooking gas, amongst others.
Beans now sell for N100,000 per bag in Lagos market, others fluctuate
In recent times, Nigeria has experienced the worst kind of inflation, one that has resulted into a high level of poverty, food crisis and price hike.
The daily increment in the cost price of goods, edible and non-edible products has taken a toll on the finance of consumers and traders; this has therefore created fear amongst citizens who earn less and spend more.
The rising cost price of food items in the market according to traders is attributed to the grappling economy, the foreign exchange rate and insecurity that have impacted food prices, even making it a difficult task for banks supporting the nation’s economy from collapsing.
Source: Legit.ng
