Rice importation not good for our economy – Senate

THE Senate,yesterday, summoned the Controller General of Nigeria Customs Service,Col. Hameed Ali,to appear before it to explain why he did not only ordered the removal of rice from import restriction list but also approved its importation through land borders. The Senate said Ali would appear before its Ad- hoc Committee on
Import Duty Waivers, on a yet to be determined date, to explain reasons behind his action, which it noted to be beyond him since the order restricting rice importation through land borders was a presidential one , issued in 2011.

The action of the Red Chamber was sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero,APC,Kebbi Central,and supported by 28 other senators, which was debated upon during plenary.
In the motion titled: “The Danger Posed by the Removal of Rice from Import Restriction List and the Re- Introduction of Import
Duty Payment at Land Borders”, Senator Aliero said lifting the ban place on rice import through land borders by the Custom boss would be counter-productive to the gains already made from the ban placed
on the commodity within the last four years.

According to him, the latest action on rice importation from the custom boss looks suspicious as the ban on rice importation through land borders in the first place, was due to customs woeful failure to man the borders , let alone collecting the needed import duty from rice importers aside other detrimental effects it has on local producers.

He added that the ban on rice imports through land borders has to a very great extent, reduced cross border smuggling which he noted , would be escalated if the Custom boss recent policy statement is not
reversed. ” Allowing rice importation to proceed through land borders without
checks is detrimental to local producers. This motion is about saving foreign exchange forNigeria, is about protecting our local ricer producers from being run out of business again, is about protecting
the 15 rice mills already built for local production , is about preventing the already provided enabling environment for the teeming unemployed youths to go into rice farming , from being destroyed
etc,”he said.

Contributing to the debate,the Senate Deputy Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, APC, Kebbi South;Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha ,PDP, Taraba South, senators Shehu Sanni, APC, Kaduna
Central; James Manager,PDP, Delta South, and Foster Ogola ,PDP, Bayelsa West ,all supported the motion by condemning the policy reversal on rice importation.

In their different submissions they said rice importation was bad to the nation’s economic growth. “Rice importation is not good for our economy. We cannot afford to
continue enriching rice farmers in Thailand, India, China etc, and impoverishing our own farmers .