The Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NSC), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) has said that over 90 percent of rice imported into the country through land borders is expired commodity. Ali made this known this in Lagos while responding to a request by the president of the Beninoise Rice Millers’ Association, Alhaja Karamatou Ibironke for a review of the law on rice imports.
He maintained that the federal government would not review laws banning importation of rice into the country through its numerous borders.
“We have not outrightly placed a ban on importation of rice, what government did was to outlaw its importation through the land borders because at the borders we do not have equipment to check if it has expired or not. But at the seaports we have all the equipment needed to carry out these checks,” the NSC boss said.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.