Johnpaul2k2:

a good move if you ask me

Not a good move. Let market forces do their work.
Let the goverment support local production and importation will die a natural death.

jason123:

Guys, GEJ said UNDERWAY not IMMEDIATELY! Must you guys always witch-hunt him?? Somethings he says are bad, other are good. This one is good. Good one GEJ.

We all will be forced to by Ofada and Abakaliki rice which will help the local producers. The policy is needed.

LOL,

So you want us to eat Ofada and Abakaliki rice while your GEJ eats UNCLE BEN'S.

Do you think GEJ will eat Ofada and Abakaliki rice.

tunnytox:

No problem Jonathan and all members of the NA that will approve the ban should swear by Amadioha, Sango and Ogun lakaaye that if they ever eat imported rice may these gods strike them dead.

Bro nawaa you oo, So you wan make oga Gej follow dey chop sand sand rice abi?

We don't need to debate this

End of Discussion, BAN RICE IMPORTATION NOW

, and you will see many Nigerian go back to Farm

This will create employment for many Nigerians

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I swear u guys a extremely funny oooo

@Baawaa - Jonathan dont do that ooo,because as i dey type dis i dey eat rice!!

@k2kay (m) - men!!!!!!!! this fresh air is more like taking in carbon monoxide o!

Kai u guys no go kill me with laff

Dis is definitely THE BEST SITE IN THE WORLD.

ha ha ha ha

please y wont GEJ eat ofada and abakaliki rice. Y wont he eat rice dat has sand it?

Una don forget say he dint have shoes wen he was small. dat guy na Kpako o. Im fit chop anything even EBA and GARRI

The ban on rice importation may be a bit drastic and dramatic.

There is no short cut to development. It is the processes put in place that produce SUSTAINED development, not just changes is law.

Discouraging the over-reliance and rice importation is better, but that has more to do with domestic rice production, packaging and transportation than it does anything outside Nigeria.

This is what the FG needs to address. Nigerians wont knowingly go for something Nigerian, because they see it as of inferior quality, and they are sometimes justified.

This needs to be addressed imo, if not Nigerians will simply drastically reduce rice from their diet, just like they have drastically added Indomie in the past few years, lol

The first step is to encourage those currently importing to engage in rice production within Nigeria. Have long term objectives which basically make it better business sense that these companies to partner Nigerians in rice production.

We need them and they need us, just for different reasons.

when obj banned importation of turkey and chicken to the advantage of ota farm did anyone raise a finger?
'anytime i adjust my cap critics go insane!' - GEJ to patience.

please y wont GEJ eat ofada and abakaliki rice. Y wont he eat rice dat has sand it?

Una don forget say he dint have shoes wen he was small. dat guy na Kpako o. Im fit chop anything even EBA and GARRI togeda. ha ha ha

No body said the idea was bad, rather it is how He intends to go about it. First you need to improve local productivity of the commodity to international standard before thinking of Banning importation of rice.

How many rice farms in Abakaliki, Agenebode, or those in northern Nigerian has the government given a life line in the past two years? Let the FG work with the states and local government to create rice farms in each geopolitical zone in the country, with the focus and zeal, five years from now the government can think of banning importation of rice.

Doing this now may create artificial scarcity especially now that christmas is around the corner. Or maybe GEJ has some data we ordinary Nigerians do not have that gave him the conviction to think about bring the ban in now rather than later.

Thanks.
If you read my post well I did not supported the move because it is wrongly time beside he has not say YES i'm banning it right away but what i'm saying is if Gej has to do as the G20 demanded it should be gradual and Gej govt must now start serious job in boosting the local farming by all support the govt can give to encourage the local farmers to increase in their production but failure to do this is not going to work all this ban ban is just a mere rubbish he cant even try it except he is mad .

Kx:

You have  crude oil in abundance locally, why dont you start by banning the importation of fuel
to enforce local production and refining of petrol products.??

Why ban the importation of what u don't produce enough of (rice) when u import what u have locally in abundance(fuel)

Spot on mate, u have just summed up this topic.
If GEJ have atleast a small part of his white matter that thinks and analyses every issues in Naija, he will do the right thing, enough said

- create policies that will be strongly biased towards rice production, which will consequently increase investment in large scale mechanized rice farming in the country (so, dont start by announcing a ban, but your policies on increasing rice production)

Why kill jobs? Thailand doesnt have a "large scale mechanized rice production system" and it is one of the largest producers in the world.

This was the same way dangote became more richer, Abacha banned importation of rice in the 1990s and dangote was the only importer of the products in nigeria,. they always come with a seemly good reason but the motive is to their pockets. Only children of yeasterday will find this new.

Everyday I feel disappointed by GEJ's decision, his bad policies far outweigh the good one, although I'm optimistic that he will change someday. Whoever advised him to ban importation of rice is plain silly, I mean how to you support local consumption? When supply cannot meet demand, obviously price will rice drastically high and we Nigerians will pay anything. This is just ridiculous, it's time for Nigerians to begin to at against this mans policies.

because of rice importation ban?

BCuZiMBlaCk:

because of rice importation ban?

Part of it, his economic policies are honest on its face, however, this economic policies are not what Nigerians need NOW. Economic policies are meant to aggressive (improving the life of the masses) and NOT worsening the life of the people. This is not the time and hour to ban a common staple food known to 140million Nigerians, if you're gonna ban it, you better make sure that t least 1million people are able to produce more than half the consumption. The other half, you can issue an import slot, to meet demand, that way local production will be boosted.

he should first ban all the politician children from schooling abroad,because that will only affect very few,but RICE? na whala, this guy no get sense at all? Nigerians spend more 3billion naira annually sending there children to school in UK alone.his own cap was imported so he should also ban it

So that we can start buying a derica for #300 abi?

It seems some people dont sleep, always ready with cocked guns
To shhot @ any policy statement from GEJ
They have everything to lose bc government activities must continue.

I hope our leaders and especially uncle Jonathan will also eat ofada and abakaliki rice which are not even available.

I don't know why uncle Jo is putting the cart before the horse. If you want Nigeria to stop buying imported rice, he must set up rice processing plant to process this rice into stuffs that we can eat without being harassed by stones.
Come to think of it, Ofada rice doesn't even come cheap, please peeps, go out tomorrow and buy a pack of ofada rice, I think a pack of 500grams is sold for about 280 or 300 naira, and this pack cannot even feed an adult.

Peeps, we need prayers in this country.

This is world bank policy and she is the head of Nigeria economy but the good thing is that they are living good and to hell with others!

nsiadi:

It seems some people dont sleep, always ready with cocked guns
To shhot @ any policy statement from GEJ
They have everything to lose bc government activities must continue.

let them get a life

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I wish Mr. President puts himself in our shoes before making such pronouncements. why doesn't he lead by example? Later he will say "Dangote himself told me so".

We must not see every policy as dumb
Its ok to criticize harsh ones
, & hail good one
Some NL are ready to use all available opportunity to castigate

I dont like removal of fuel subsidy
Its not that its not a good policy, rather its bc of bad experience we passed tru
Some people are waiting, in the wings, to pounce on monies saved by such policiy
Some of us trust GEJ, but we are not v comfortable wt ppl working wt him
Ngozi, too, may have bright ideas
But they lack the clout to police them, & some ppl are bent on frustrating them
Its really unfortunate. But we should not dwell on that & keep slinging mud

my dear NL make una shine una eyes well well! GEJ did not tell us-during his campaign- that he will remove subsidy, rather he told us he was going to pay minimum wage(of which many of us have yet to enjoy).Besides, the chief rice importer just bagged a GCON from GEJ.Who's fooling who?

[size=14pt]It seems the FG is now in the business of recycling news  and efforts[/size]

[size=13pt]In January/February of 2011 . This same FG announced a Ban on Rice Importation. [/size]

Farmers hail rice importation ban  http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5672143-146/story.csp

FG bans rice importation through land borders on FEBRUARY 1, 2011   http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/02/fg-bans-rice-importation-through-land-borders/

This was after lifting the ban a couple of months earlier ooo

Outcry over new tariff on rice at Seme border

However, with the lifting of the ban came new tariffs for the importation of rice. It costs more than twice to bring in a bag of rice through the borders now. Before the ban, according to importers, it cost them N500 to bring in a bag of rice but now they pay between N1150 and N1200 on each bag.
http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/45952/1/Outcry-over-new--tariff-on-rice-at-Seme-border/Page1.html