Stakeholders kick against wares for rice importation

By Adebayo Adelola
Federal Government’s grant of duty waivers to an importer to bring more than 500,000 tonnes of rice into the country has come under fire as stakeholders in the rice sector are kicking against it.

Chief Mufutalo Gbadamosi, President, Rice Importers, Millers, Distributors and Dealers Association of Nigeria (RIMDAN) in a chat with journalists disclosed that the Federal Government’s initiative on rice which is aimed at supporting local farmers and processors of the commodity, and to save hundreds of thousands of jobs and save foreign exchange, is now under threat.

The threat, according to him, is posed by a strong but selfish business interest which has succeeded in obtaining the federal government’s nod to flood the Nigerian market with imported rice.

“The deed was done through convincing the government to issue duty waiver to a single enterprise that is not even a stakeholder in the rice business to import over 500,000 tonnes of the staple duty free.

“The implication of this is that huge resources already expended on rice processing by local farmers is now in serious jeopardy as such farmers would not be able to sell competitively.”

Mufutalo Gbadamosi said many of his members in response to government calls for investment in rice production “borrowed huge sums of money which they in turn invested in rice cultivation.”

He said the latest policy somersault of granting waiver to a single importer to ship more rice into the country is a disservice to rice planters. Furthermore, he said that the decision was coming in the heels of the sectors’s recovery from long time neglect following the federal government initiative of establishing 17 rice mills across the country, a policy he said was gradually gaining ground.

“We are however surprised at the paradigm shift from the policy without warning or consultation at any level at all. We believe Mr. President can remedy the situation because he was wrongly advised and should do something to save the situation,” he said.

Another importer, Mr. Ken Agbogun, said that the government would loosed N2.8 million through that single act .

“The revenue that is suppose to accrue to the government is about N1.3 billion and any step towards granting of duty waiver, would also portray the presence administration as unserious and inconsistent as well as wrong signal of government to the outside world,” he said.