According to a report by Sun News, there was a stampede at the popular Eke -Ukwu Owerri market at the weekend when some officials of the Nigeria Custom service from Federal Operations Unit (FOU) zone C, Owerri allegedly invaded the market in search of contraband rice.

A trader who do not want his name mentioned told our correspondent that the traders in the market were wary of the invasion of their stalls , because according to the source, some victims from other markets in the state had reliably informed them.

“When we had they were coming, everybody started running helter skelter, we ran in different directions, we don’t know where they were coming from, some us were wounded as a result of the fear of the custom carrying our goods away.

The source continued “before they came we have been told by some of our friends from other markets that they came to their shops and carried their rice away”

However, when Sun News accosted the state chairman of Grains Association of Nigeria, who declined mentioning his name, he confirmed invasion of the custom at various markets in the state.

According to him, the custom officials had earlier swooped on the traders at Relief , Stadium lane, Naze, Alaba and some major streets in the state where rice is sold.

He alleged that the officials while carting away their rice had claimed that the order to impound them came from the Presidency.

So far, he claimed that over 400 rice tagged contraband were impounded from the traders in Owerri market.

When our correspondent went round the market to verify if the contraband rice are still in stock , unfortunately, the traders had perfected plans of selling them in secrets.

“If you want Thailand and Cap rice, there price are different, we sell for N27, 000 per bag but we don’t display it for everybody to see because of the custom officials” The source said.

However, when contacted, the FOU zone C Public Relation Officer, Chioma Onuoha said she is not competent to speak on the matter.

Source: https://www.ogbeta.ng/2019/11/border-closure-pandemonium-as-imo-rice.html

Lalasticlala

Lol

There's a proverb that says "market wey good no need sign board".. To me, that border closure is nonsense. If our local rice is cheap and well processed, you wouldn't even need to close the border. when those importers run a loss of millions as a result of low patronage, they would stop. It's just like asking MTN to go because it's a South African company and forcing everyone to use glo because it's a local company. Nigerian govt should help our local farmers for crying out loud..! These politicians just like appearing In the news.. So our local farmers are expected to go seriously with rice production and what would they use to accelerate the process? Their lives? Has the govt put in more efforts to help local cultivation and production of rice as they've put to close the borders? I tire for this country abeg...

Some Nigerian traders will go and buy quality Nigerian rice , repackage them with foreign rice bags and then resell them expensively as foreign rice all because some other Nigerians prefer foreign rice. I see this as a nice move by the Nigerian Customs service but our farmers must produce more. Private sector should invest more into farming. Govt should provide the necessary inputs and structures to encourage farming. And above all, govt and farmers should do something about the prices, the prices of local rice are too outrageous no matter the quality.

Nigeria is gradually sliding back to the military era

So the order came from the Presidency to go to people's shops and seize rice?

The customs officials have passed their boundaries.


Nothing wey Chinedu no go see for him shop.

Q