President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Nigerian Customs Service to stop the exportation of food items to address the food crisis in the country.
The Comptroller-General of the service, Wale Adeniyi, disclosed this during a meeting with stakeholders of the Dawanau International Grains Market in Kano, on Friday, March 8.
He noted that the Export Prohibition Act was not enforced previously as a result of “Nigeria’s food sufficiency at the time.”
He urged the traders to stop exporting food items at a time the country was battling with a food crisis.
He said; “Due to the food crisis, the President had directed for the full implementation of the Act to prevent the exportation of food items during times of dire need,” Adeniyi said.
“The President has asked me to request your understanding that during this period, we will implement the laws forbidding the exportation of certain grains such as beans, rice, and millet, among many others. We do not want those that are locally produced in Nigeria and those that are already imported to be re-exported out of the country.
“You are big stakeholders in this direction and these are reasons why I am here to interact with you and solicit your support,”
Meanwhile, Alhaji Muttaka Isah, the President of the Dawanau International Market, informed the comptroller-general about several challenges encountered by members of the association, including “unfounded allegations in some quarters that our dealers hoard grains in their warehouses.”
He said; “I want to seize this opportunity to deny this baseless allegation and to inform Nigerians that we do not hoard foodstuffs.
“Whatever grains we procure from the growers and other sources, we store them in our warehouses for a while, before we supply them directly to our customers in the markets.
“We appeal that the operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service relax their conditions on the importation of beans and other foodstuffs from the Niger Republic to enable us to transport the goods seamlessly for the benefit of our customers in particular and Nigeria in general.”
