The Federal Government has announced its intention to close border with a neighbouring Country to curb rice smuggling into Nigeria. While the Government is yet to mention the Country, pointers suggest Benin Republic, a leading importer of rice from Thailand. A situation which incites multiple awkwardness as the same Minister who so passionately makes the announcement, said recently that Nigeria’s consumption of local rice has risen so much, it threatens Thailand’s economy.
Speaking with youths in a leadership clinic under the auspices of Guardians of the Nation International, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, said the move to block the border was necessary to encourage local production, while also improving the economy of the Country.
“Our other problem is smuggling. As we speak, a neighbour of ours is importing more rice than China is importing.
“They do not eat parboiled rice, they eat white rice, they use their ports to try and damage our economy.
Ogbeh alleges that in many South Asian Countries where rice is grown, if it is planted in the same place continuously for four to six years, the quantum of arsenic begins to increase and arsenic causes cancer and “that is what they are dumping for us.”
He reprimanded persons with preference to Thai rice, saying that they are consuming poison due to the poisonous materials that get into the grain from the Country it is grown.
“There are three kinds of water in their natural state; there is fresh water from the river, salt water from the sea, blackish water. if you plant rice in certain parcels of land, some poisonous materials gets into the rice.”
But in a meeting of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) and leadership of the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers of Nigeria (FEPSAN) held at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja in March, Ogbeh had said Nigerians now consume local rice as importation had dropped to 5%
“Just like two weeks ago, the Ambassador of Thailand came to my office and said to me that we have really ‘dealt’ with them.
“But I asked what did we do wrong and he said unemployment in Thailand was one of the lowest in the world, 1.2 per cent, it has gone up to four per cent because seven giant rice mills have shut down because Nigeria’s import has fallen by 95 per cent on rice alone.”
In response to the Minister’s claim, Wattana Kunwongse, Thailand’s ambassador to Nigeria, denied having any such conversation with the Minister saying, it was “misleading and a distortion of the actual discussion that transpired between us”.
That the government now wishes to shut down a border over smuggling of rice from Thailand may push more credibility the way of the Ambassador.
Call to ban, not today
In May 2017, Ogbeh revealed that the Country may have to close its borders if rice smuggling continues.
According to him, some neighbouring Countries are sabotaging Nigeria’s efforts to guarantee self-sufficiency in rice.
“We will like to advise our neighbours, who believe that the ECOWAS treaty means that Nigeria is a volunteer Nation for economic suicide.
“The ECOWAS treaty number two does not suggest that any Country can be an avenue for smuggling foreign goods not produced in that Country for dumping in his neighbours territory.
“If they insist, I do not think that Government is far away from considering permanently closing certain borders very near to us and when we do, nothing will make us change our minds on the issue, ECOWAS treaty or not.”
In his 2018 New Year broadcast, President Buhari also vowed to ban rice importation as part of Government’s effort to restructure the economy.
“Rice imports will stop this year. Local rice, fresher and more nutritious will be on our dishes from now on.”
In March, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed revealed Thailand’s plan to establish rice mills in Nigeria.
“As we speak today, Thailand rice growers are making passionate appeal to the Federal Government. What they are doing now is that they want to set up rice mills in Nigeria, which means we have won.”
Why so much?
According to a report by the Thai Rice Exporters Association, in 2017, Benin Republic overtook China as the highest importer of rice from Thailand.
The Country which shares a border with Nigeria is reported to have imported 1,811,164 Metric tonnes of rice in 2017 over China with 1,199,737 MT.
The report seemed surprising to many as China has the largest population in the world (estimated 1.4 billion) compared to Benin Republic that is just 10 million. However, this is because Thailand is the second highest exporter of rice to China, as Vietnam leads the pack, with 55% of rice importation in 2017 at a cost of $1.02 billion.
The high demand for such metric tonnes of rice into Benin Republic might not be unconnected with rice smuggling into Nigeria, as a bulk of the Beninese economy depends on Nigeria.
In May 2018, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) revealed it impounded 571 bags of foreign parboiled rice in 50 kilograms bags, each and 49 kegs of 25kg litres of vegetable oil with Duty Paid Value, DPV of N7.6 million in one week.
Between January and June 2017 alone, the NCS had already intercepted large scale smuggled rice 1,156 times.
