The Comptroller General of Customs, Col.(rtd) Hameed Ali, reiterated the commitment of the NCS to work together with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, to protect this country.
CG Ali who visited Ogbeh weekend stressed that “our major contribution is to ensure that we can reduce to the barest minimum the importation of rice so that the rice that is grown here is sold.”
According to Ali, curbing the “importation of things like poultry, prohibited from our own country as illicit items is our primary mandate and we going to continue to do it diligently to ensure that our own economy improves and we are able to feed not only ourselves, but the whole of Africa and the whole world.”
“Let me underscore the importance of your ministry,” Ali said, acknowledging that one of the very innovative steps the minister took was to sensitise government officials on the importance of agriculture.
He also commended Winnie Ochinyabo for championing the cause of this sensitisation. “We’ve had a very good session with her at the Customs’ headquarters. I sincerely appreciate that move sir and I thank you most profoundly for it,” he said.
The minister, in response, affirmed that, as a country, Nigeria made some serious mistakes for nearly 30 years, becoming a nation of importers. No country ever became strong by being totally import-dependent. And no country is strong without being able to feed itself, he said.
Ogbe expressed solidarity with the Customs, saying they are taking the risk of protecting our border, and, in the process, many of them get killed by ruthless smugglers.
“I congratulate you for what you’ve helped us do with rice between September 2015 and now. The report from the Thai rice exporters association, not our own report, says that rice export to Nigeria has dropped from 644,000 tons to 20,000 tons officially,” the minister said.
He attributed much of the reduction in rice imports and smuggling to the efforts of the customs officials. “So let me thank you and your men because it’s a very dangerous job trying to stop these people. They are strong and they carry weapons of all kinds.”
Ogbeh commended the way the Customs are invading warehouses now, urging them to, please continue as Nigeria has a record 12.2 million people growing rice now, according to RIFAN, the Rice Farmers’ Association.
He further advised the Customs officials to “get involved, as Schedule Five of the Nigerian constitution allows you to farm.”
The minister promised that “we will be around to help you because agriculture should really become a national culture and it should never ever again disappear.”
By Vincent A. Yusuf
Daily Trust News
