Minister blames Customs for revenue loss on imported rice

    
Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Akinwumi Adesina, on Thursday blamed the Nigeria Customs Service for the billions of Naira the country losses in revenue owing to the Federal Government’s 100 per cent tariff regime on the importation of rice.

A motion before the House of Representatives had indicated that Nigeria recorded revenue losses since 2012 as importers reportedly subverted the government’s policy by smuggling rice into the country through land borders.

The tariff hike was to discourage importation and encourage local production of rice by Nigerian farmers.

However, the motion observed that importers subverted it by engaging in massive smuggling.

The House had resolved that its Committee on Customs should investigate the issue with a possibility of proposing a review of the policy.

But, at a public hearing by the committee in Abuja on Thursday, the minister argued that if the NCS did its job, smugglers would not be having a free reign.

He said, “The NCS must do its job of policing the borders, while my job is to encourage local farming of rice.

“The rice that is being smuggled are not carried on the head or brought in by ghosts. The rice comes in trailers and in large quantities.

“Our target is that we should have a enough rice to feed our people and ultimately become a net exporter of rice.”

Akinwumi advised against placing emphasis on the loss of revenue by the customs and losing sight of the “real intentions of the policy, which is to promote growth, create job opportunities and reduce poverty.”

Giving a breakdown of the impact of the policy, he recalled that in 2012, the country was producing only 1.4million metric tonnes of paddy rice.