Customs will implement the presidential policy to end rice importation, Customs said yesterday.
President Muhamamdu Buhari, in his New Year broadcast, dropped the hint of a total stoppage of rice import this year.
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Public Relations Officer Joseph Attah told The Nation that the fight against rice smuggling would be easier.
He said: “We have been fighting rice smuggling and if there is a total stoppage in seaport, land borders and all that, I think criminals will no longer have a hiding place. The difficulty of knowing whether this rice came from seaport or land border will be totally out of the picture. As long as it is not locally produced rice, it is a smuggled rice. So, they cannot hide under any guise.”
Asked how prepared the service is to implement the policy, the spokesman said: “We are prepared. With the support of the government, any moment from now we will be taking over vehicles and other working equipment. So, we are going to be better equipped this year and that will also boost our activities to deal with not only rice smuggling, but also to deal with smuggling of any prohibited items.”
Attah added that the challenge he envisaged in the implementation of the policy was that of the unpatriotic Nigerians who haboured smugglers.
The PRO said: “There will be no other new challenges rather than the challenges we have been facing. I will rather say that we will appeal for support from Nigerians.
“People should look at smugglers as enemies of the state. And the act of smuggling itself is a crime and this means no good for Nigeria and Nigerians. The more we continue to expose them to customs the better we do.
“But in a situation where a fellow Nigerian will provide shelter to smugglers to hide could be a challenge. We appeal to all to support and understand that fighting smugglers is a collective responsibility.
“They should do their own by providing the solution to us by exposing smugglers so that they don’t have any hiding place.”