Senate seeks re-imposition of ban on rice

Senate has asked the Federal Gov­ernment to restore the ban earlier placed on importation of rice through land borders by the immediate past gov­ernment.

The lawmakers made the appeal following se­ries of abuse currently carried out by rice im­porters who bring rice into the country through neighbouring countries.

The appeal for resto­ration of the ban on rice importation through our land borders by the lawmakers followed the presentation and adop­tion of the report of Sen­ate ad-hoc committee on import duty waivers, concessions and grants to importers.

The committee in its report said lifting the ban on land importation of rice as recently directed by the Comptroller – Gen­eral of Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hammed Ali (retd), will lead to evasion of custom duty and reve­nue losses to the Nigerian maritime industry.

It also said lifting the ban will directly lead to increased diversion of vessels to neighbouring countries.

The committee added that the lower five per­cent import levy being charged on rice by some neighbouring countries is enough inducement that “if not checked, will on the long run lead to mas­sive vessels desertion of Nigerian ports and the concomitant unemploy­ment of Nigerians.”

The argument of Ali, which ultimately led to the removal of the ban by the Customs was that the removal of the restriction will bring more revenue to the coffers of the gov­ernment, reduce the num­ber of smugglers and also bring down the price of the commodity by break­ing the monopoly being enjoyed by the big time rice traders (millers) who have the capacity to im­port large consignment.

The Senate had on Oc­tober 15 deliberated a mo­tion on the dangers posed by the removal of rice from import restriction list and the re-introduc­tion of import duty pay­ment at land border and asked its ad-committee to invite the Comptroller- General to brief it on the reasons behind the new policy.

The ad-committee headed by Senator Adamu Aliero noted that between 2010 and 2012, there were inconsistencies in fiscal policy measures on rice imports.

The policies, the com­mittee noted, brought about frequent changes in levy payable on various forms of rice with con­flicting opinions of the classification of Husked brown rice.

It noted that it was as a result of such policy som­ersault that the Nigeria Customs Service, as im­plementing agency of gov­ernment fiscal measures, recommended the restric­tion of rice imports to the nation’s sea ports as a way of channeling the impor­tation of rice.

The committee said that due to the policy som­ersault, some importers exceeded their quota al­location resulting in out­standing duty of over N24 billion and subsequent suspension of the 2015 Rice Import Quotas.

It observed that the introduction of the 2014- 2017 National Rice Policy has brought about stabil­ity in the tariff regime.

Senate President, Bu­kola Saraki, who summed up contributions by Sena­tors, said the matter is serious because it affects revenue and improve­ment of agriculture in the country.

Saraki said sentiment should be removed com­pletely from the consider­ation of the report.

He added that no genu­ine importer would pre­fer to import through the land border to incur extra cost unless there is inten­tion to defraud the coun­try.

Saraki said lifting the ban on land border impor­tation of rice is definitely not in the interest of the country.