₦airaland Forum

LordAdam:
And you are celebrating an slowpoke that spent billions to construct a flying mono rail. And did not know that trains operated in Nigeria until after he had been made minister of transport.

Shift go one side. I can see you have contracted PMB's body odor. Smelly sepulchre!

-Lord

pls save urself the stress of answering every tom dick and harry on nairaland.

most of these guys that are shouting are mentally sick because of under-education. Nigeria has one of the worst education system (social service generally especially the health sector) in the world. majority of people shouting on this land don't understand the mechanism of government and how it operates.

Don't try to enlighten them, their ignorance and stupidity is what makes those politician wealthy.

i can't type again sori.

LordAdam:
IDIOTS!!!

Did you guys read the article?



EKPA!!!

Was it GEJ that told the companies not to fulfill their end of the bargain? Is the PMB government not still maintaining the illicit rice quota 6 months into the government? Is it not the same thing that is happening with fuel subsidy? Did the PMB government not pay the fraudulent marketers N400b a few weeks back.

You guys are the evil in Nigeria. POT calling KETTLE black. HYPOCRITES!!!

-Lord

You are insane! And that's the nicest word I can find to describe you. So, GEJ is not to blame because "the companies did not carry out their end of the bargain" but Buhari is to blame because "he has been in charge for 6 months" and just uncovered the fraud? And you dare call someone a hypocrite? You, Sir, are actually the evil plaguing Nigeria. You have no right condemning others.

Nigeria needs to add 'economic treason' to its criminal code.

Make it a capital offense and deal with all these cretins.

Once the incentives are outweighed by the potential deficits (death and asset seizure) people will think twice about engaging in business practices that sabotage the economic well-being of the nation.

feedthenation:
Given that Nigeria is the only country that consumes parboiled rice, ...


http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/195509-investigation-inside-the-massive-fraud-in-nigerias-n117billion-rice-import-quota-scheme.html

is this another product of Lies Mohammed?
Operation FeedtheNation with Lies!

feedthenation:
It seems every aspect of our economic sector is riddled with massive corruption...

not all Nigerians are corrupt, every sector in Nigeria are corrupt

feedthenation:
The fuel subsidy scam probably broke the ceiling in a room crammed with some of the worst corporate perfidy. Nothing could more sabotage the economic interest of a nation, many Nigerians thought.

But then came the rice import quota scheme, an unholy romance between politicians and businessmen, at the moment stretching corporate bad practices in Nigeria to an incredulous length.

About N117 Billion is there for the pick. A total of 26 companies are involved; two of which are owned by a former Attorney General of the Federation and a former civilian governor of Kebbi State respectively. Predictably, in the all-too-familiar Nigerian fashion, not all of the 26 companies selected for the scheme made the list on merit.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2014 disclosed that Nigeria spent an average of N800 Billion annually on the importation of rice. Unofficial import receipts through the Cotonou corridor was not captured in the CBN figure.

But the business of importing rice, a staple in Africa’s most popular nation, is so huge and attractive that four neighbouring countries of Benin, Togo, Cameroon and even landlocked Niger Republic have technically factored transhipment or smuggling of rice and allied commodities into Nigeria in their national economic plan.

A recent figure from the CBN indicated that Benin Republic imports almost as much rice as China and nearly as much frozen chicken as the UK. Most of the commodities are smuggled into Nigeria.

Disturbed by the nation’s huge import bill, the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2014 came up with a new rice policy to fast-track national self-sufficiency in rice production.

The policy specified that owners of existing rice mills and new investors with verifiable backward integration in the rice value chain will be allowed to import rice at10 per cent duty and 20 per cent levy (30 per cent); while merchants who have nothing to contribute to local production in the form of rice farms or mills will be charged 10 per cent duty and 60 per cent levy (70 per cent). Technically, it was a subsidy aimed at building local capacity in rice production.

Subsequently, an inter-ministerial committee was set up to work out the national rice supply gap and allocate import licenses with appropriate quotas in order to bridge this gap, same time advancing the objectives of the national rice policy.

On paper, this committee was to determine beneficiaries and allocate quotas based on four key criteria that assess investment of individual companies into local rice production.

The criteria included a Domestic Rice Production Plan (DRPP) that demonstrate evidence of current or planned investment in domestic rice production over a three-year period. The DRPP was also expected to show the size of investment, proof of land acquisition and establishment of rice fields and paddy production.

The second criterion was called paddy purchase outlook from Paddy Aggregation Centres (PAC). This should demonstrate a clear plan of purchase of paddy from PACs, location of the PACs and volumes of paddy to be purchased.

The third criterion was paddy purchase outlook from outgrower farmers and farmer cooperatives. This should include location of farms, volumes of paddy to be purchased, etc.

The last criterion was proof of ownership of integrated rice milling facility with par boilers and dehuskers. This should include size of planned installed capacity and evidence of acquisition of integrated rice milling equipment.

Sources within the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment told this reporter that the then Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, by-passed the inter-ministerial committee in the selection of beneficiaries and commensurate import quota. Mr. Akinwunmi, now President of the African Development Bank (ADB), was Chairman of the inter-ministerial committee and took key decisions as the arrowhead of President Jonathan’s much-vaunted Agriculture Transformation Agenda.

Mr. Akinwunmi was easily outwitted by merchants and politicians who did not want a change in status quo, and were known to have resisted such in the past, industry insiders said.

Although the turf is different, the strategy is the same. The same way Nigeria’s oil refineries were put in comatose to pave way for massive and lucrative import of refined petroleum products, the same way entrenched interests known in the industry as Rice Mafia, are sabotaging local rice production to sustain the rice import business.

In the final analysis, the rice policy was scuttled to serve everything but national interest. Companies who have no investment in the rice value chain were granted quota. These companies in turn sold the quota to other importers who already had vessels on the sea.

The sellers of quota made huge profits without any investments in Nigeria’s local rice production and indeed did so without taking risk or lifting a finger.

The same sellers have been working hard to get more quotas in the bid to get more money from the scheme without any investments, thus holding the domestic rice policy to ransom.

Investigations by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that the 26 companies that benefitted from the rice import quota scheme included Milan, Bua, AA Ibrahim, Stine Rice Mills, JMK Foods, Labana Rice Mill, Elephant Group, Honeywell, Kerksuk Farms, Wacot, Mikap Rice, Golden Penny, Stallion, Umza International Farms Limited, Dangote and Olam. Others were Tara Agro, Ebony Agro, Atari Rice Industry, Ashi Foods, JAI, Arewa Rice Mill, Onyx Rice Mill, Bansara Rice, Danmodi and Klysat.

Investigations revealed that Mikap Rice is owned by a former Attorney General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa, while Ebony Agro is owned by Charles Ugwu, a former minister of commerce and industry.

Ashi Foods is owned by the immediate past governor of Benue State Gabriel Suswam. Milan Group is a business interest that also owns Intercontinental Hotels while Bua is owned by billionaire Ishaku Rabiu. Honeywell is owned by Oba Otudeko while Elephant Group is owned by Tunji Owoye. Labana Rice is owned by former Kebi State governor Adamu Aliero while Keresuk is owned by one Rotimi Williams.

Investigations revealed that for instance, Umza Internationa Farms Limited has a rice mill in Kano with a capacity of 30,000 MT. Beyond this mill, Umza has no other investment in local rice production. However, the company was given import allocations in two categories: 36,000 MT under existing miller allocation and also got 49,207 MT under investor allocation.

Dangote and Golden Penny have no existing mills but got 115.204 MT and 91,887 MT respectively. Stallion got a total allocation of 89,989 MT; that was 59,989 MT under investor allocation and 30,000 MT under existing miller allocation. It has two mills – one in Kano and another in Markurdi.

Investigations further revealed that Mikap Rice, owned by Michael Aondoakaa, has a very small scale mill of between 15,000 to 20,000 MT. The mill itself is government-funded. Mr. Aondoakaa got 82,897 MT of import quota.

Wacot is in seeds business only while Labana has two mills in Kebbi State. Many of the beneficiaries were found to have no investment in the rice value chain. They include Wacot, Honeywell, Elephant Group, AA Ibrahim, Milan, among others. Kersuk Farms has no mill. Stine Rice has a mill but it is not in working condition. Bua has only brown rice mill. It does not have parboiling capacity; the mill is defunct. However Bua received a total import allocation of 109,448 MT.

Ebony Agro owned by Charles Ugwu made wrong investment decision. It built rice mill in a place where there is no paddy. The same wrong investment decision of building a mill where there is no paddy was also made by Tara Agro. Many of the quota beneficiaries sold their allocations to importers. Mikap sold its quota to Elephant Group. Stine Rice sold its quota to a company called PJS. Elephant Group in May 2015 also received through the Jama’tul Nasril Islam (JNI) waiver to import 100,000 MT of rice. The religious organisation had applied for and was granted waiver by President Goodluck Jonathan to import the said metric tonnes of rice and 25,000 metric tonnes of cooking oil described in a letter from the Budget Office of the Federation as ‘donated foodstuff’.

One smoking gun on sale of import quota is found with Umza International Farm Ltd. Shipping documents obtained by this newspaper showed that shortly after the release of quota allocations and Umza was named one of the beneficiaries, a letter dated December 20, 2014 instructed Marietta Bolten (owners of a ship MV Marietta) to divert a cargo of rice originally meant for delivery at Cotonou Port to Lagos Port. The cargo in question was a 15,500 MT Thai Parboiled Rice 100PCT Sortexed of Thailand Origin. The letter reads in part: “The above cargo was shipped on the above vessel … for delivery at the port of Cotonou – Benin but we, Navision Shipping A/S, hereby request you to order the vessel to proceed to and deliver the said cargo at Port Lagos – Nigeria to Pearl Universal Impex Ltd, 7A Asa Afariogun Street, Off Osolo Way, Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos, Nigeria.

The same Navision Shipping on the same day gave two more instructions to Marietta ordering it to divert another cargo of 3900.650 MT Thai Parboiled rice to Port Harcourt for Pearl Universal Impex. This second cargo, originally meant for Cotonou Port was originally consigned to STE Premiere Sarl, Niamey, Niger Republic. The third cargo, 18,500MT Thai Parboiled rice, originally destined for Cotonou Port was diverted on instruction to Port Harcourt.

A visit to Pearl Universal Impex in Ajao Estate, Lagos, showed that the company is no more at No, 7A Asa Afariogun Street, the land address used for the shipping transaction. There was no forwarding address. Pearl Universal Impex is a major rice importer owned by a group of foreign businessmen that include the Chairman Pulkit Jain, Nimit Jain, Pranshu Goel and Ramanathan Srinivasan. Pulkit Jain was quoted in a recent media report that his company “has been a major importer of rice in the country with imports of 350,000 metric tonnes of rice annually in the past”

Given that Nigeria is the only country that consumes parboiled rice, any cargo of parboiled rice going to Cotonou is in the first place is meant to come into Nigeria through land borders.

All the cargoes diverted belonged to Umza International Farm Ltd, one of the companies that benefitted from government subsidy.

Shipping documents show that diverted rice cargoes with the following bill of lading: MRT1409-01(10,000 MT), MRT1409-03(1,000 MT), MRT1409-04(1,000 MT), MRT1409-05(1,000 MT), MRT1409-09(1494.650 MT) and MRT1409-20(806.000MT) were consigned to Umza International Farm.

Yet another document showed that Umza International Farm Ltd has been importing rice from Thailand purportedly to be transhipped to Niger Republic. In October 2014 Umza, using the same ship MV Marietta imported 1,000 MT of Golden Standard brand of parboiled rice to Cotonou for ‘transit to Niger’. The Umza cargo has bill of lading MRT1409-03.

The same 1000 MT of same bill of lading MRT1409-03 is named in the instruction letter to the ship owners Marietta Bolten on 20th December 2014 to be diverted to Port Harcourt shortly after Umza was named as a beneficiary of Federal Government rice import quota. So also was another cargo of bill of lading MRT1409-04 with Niger Republic as its original destination.

Industry stakeholders are confused as to how consignments of parboiled rice are transhipped to a country that does not consume parboiled rice. Maritime experts say this is another red flag of irregularities and sabotage of the rice value chain adding that parboiled rice is not the only item ‘officially smuggled into Nigeria’ in the guise the goods were meant for Niger Republic.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/195509-investigation-inside-the-massive-fraud-in-nigerias-n117billion-rice-import-quota-scheme.html

I just read this and half way I couldn't continue ..its so disgusting and disgraceful .

This country can never develop. This country is damned by idiots and I hate this Nigeria thing called corruption


How can people be this wicked and their people suffer especially these north people

Can we go our separate ways pls

I am sick
This is nauseating


This is nice journalism

LordAdam:
And you are celebrating an slowpoke that spent billions to construct a flying mono rail. And did not know that trains operated in Nigeria until after he had been made minister of transport.

Shift go one side. I can see you have contracted PMB's body odor. Smelly sepulchre!

-Lord

My dear when that ikwerre man said that ....I gave up on Nigeria

We have been ruled by bunch of daft fellows

ISpiksDaTroof:
You are insane! And that's the nicest word I can find to describe you. So, GEJ is not to blame because "the companies did not carry out their end of the bargain" but Buhari is to blame because "he has been in charge for 6 months" and just uncovered the fraud? And you dare call someone a hypocrite? You, Sir, are actually the evil plaguing Nigeria. You have no right condemning others.

I wanted to reply, but you just displayed zero sense of reasoning and comprehension with the statement in bold. Was it PMB that uncovered the fraud? IDIAT!

-Lord

LordAdam:
I wanted to reply, but you just displayed zero sense of reasoning and comprehension with the statement in bold. Was it PMB that uncovered the fraud? IDIAT!

-Lord

So, who did ?

When I read comments from the so called youths, I don't loose hope.......why? Because I already lost the hope about Nigeria many years ago and their comments help me to solidify my beliefs.......there is No hope for Nigeria

LordAdam:
Follow up a bit?

Is he the one to follow up? The EFCC and ICPC, are they not independent bodies? What about the regulatory agencies? Is he also the person heading all of them? Why did their respective heads not ensure that the policies were enforced and fraud were eliminated. Was it GEJ that informed them to let corruption thrive?

I remember the Odua scandal and how the woman was protected by GEJ, so I'm not saying GEJ was perfect. But PMB is no different. Why is everybody silent about the role of Sanusi and Emefiele in Dasukigate? Or that Femi Adesina as Editor received money (although it has now been returned)? Why are they not still lambasted if they are not protected by PMB.

As I said, the status quo remains. After Buharigate, the mills of Dasukigate has gone worringly silent. When you point a finger at someone, four figures are pointing back at you.

-Lord

You seem to be endorsing corruption here. Stop it! Your man GEJ is the worst thing to happen to this nation!

feedthenation:
The fuel subsidy scam probably broke the ceiling in a room crammed with some of the worst corporate perfidy. Nothing could more sabotage the economic interest of a nation, many Nigerians thought.

But then came the rice import quota scheme, an unholy romance between politicians and businessmen, at the moment stretching corporate bad practices in Nigeria to an incredulous length.

About N117 Billion is there for the pick. A total of 26 companies are involved; two of which are owned by a former Attorney General of the Federation and a former civilian governor of Kebbi State respectively. Predictably, in the all-too-familiar Nigerian fashion, not all of the 26 companies selected for the scheme made the list on merit.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2014 disclosed that Nigeria spent an average of N800 Billion annually on the importation of rice. Unofficial import receipts through the Cotonou corridor was not captured in the CBN figure.

But the business of importing rice, a staple in Africa’s most popular nation, is so huge and attractive that four neighbouring countries of Benin, Togo, Cameroon and even landlocked Niger Republic have technically factored transhipment or smuggling of rice and allied commodities into Nigeria in their national economic plan.

A recent figure from the CBN indicated that Benin Republic imports almost as much rice as China and nearly as much frozen chicken as the UK. Most of the commodities are smuggled into Nigeria.

Disturbed by the nation’s huge import bill, the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2014 came up with a new rice policy to fast-track national self-sufficiency in rice production.

The policy specified that owners of existing rice mills and new investors with verifiable backward integration in the rice value chain will be allowed to import rice at10 per cent duty and 20 per cent levy (30 per cent); while merchants who have nothing to contribute to local production in the form of rice farms or mills will be charged 10 per cent duty and 60 per cent levy (70 per cent). Technically, it was a subsidy aimed at building local capacity in rice production.

Subsequently, an inter-ministerial committee was set up to work out the national rice supply gap and allocate import licenses with appropriate quotas in order to bridge this gap, same time advancing the objectives of the national rice policy.

On paper, this committee was to determine beneficiaries and allocate quotas based on four key criteria that assess investment of individual companies into local rice production.

The criteria included a Domestic Rice Production Plan (DRPP) that demonstrate evidence of current or planned investment in domestic rice production over a three-year period. The DRPP was also expected to show the size of investment, proof of land acquisition and establishment of rice fields and paddy production.

The second criterion was called paddy purchase outlook from Paddy Aggregation Centres (PAC). This should demonstrate a clear plan of purchase of paddy from PACs, location of the PACs and volumes of paddy to be purchased.

The third criterion was paddy purchase outlook from outgrower farmers and farmer cooperatives. This should include location of farms, volumes of paddy to be purchased, etc.

The last criterion was proof of ownership of integrated rice milling facility with par boilers and dehuskers. This should include size of planned installed capacity and evidence of acquisition of integrated rice milling equipment.

Sources within the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment told this reporter that the then Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, by-passed the inter-ministerial committee in the selection of beneficiaries and commensurate import quota. Mr. Akinwunmi, now President of the African Development Bank (ADB), was Chairman of the inter-ministerial committee and took key decisions as the arrowhead of President Jonathan’s much-vaunted Agriculture Transformation Agenda.

Mr. Akinwunmi was easily outwitted by merchants and politicians who did not want a change in status quo, and were known to have resisted such in the past, industry insiders said.

Although the turf is different, the strategy is the same. The same way Nigeria’s oil refineries were put in comatose to pave way for massive and lucrative import of refined petroleum products, the same way entrenched interests known in the industry as Rice Mafia, are sabotaging local rice production to sustain the rice import business.

In the final analysis, the rice policy was scuttled to serve everything but national interest. Companies who have no investment in the rice value chain were granted quota. These companies in turn sold the quota to other importers who already had vessels on the sea.

The sellers of quota made huge profits without any investments in Nigeria’s local rice production and indeed did so without taking risk or lifting a finger.

The same sellers have been working hard to get more quotas in the bid to get more money from the scheme without any investments, thus holding the domestic rice policy to ransom.

Investigations by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that the 26 companies that benefitted from the rice import quota scheme included Milan, Bua, AA Ibrahim, Stine Rice Mills, JMK Foods, Labana Rice Mill, Elephant Group, Honeywell, Kerksuk Farms, Wacot, Mikap Rice, Golden Penny, Stallion, Umza International Farms Limited, Dangote and Olam. Others were Tara Agro, Ebony Agro, Atari Rice Industry, Ashi Foods, JAI, Arewa Rice Mill, Onyx Rice Mill, Bansara Rice, Danmodi and Klysat.

Investigations revealed that Mikap Rice is owned by a former Attorney General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa, while Ebony Agro is owned by Charles Ugwu, a former minister of commerce and industry.

Ashi Foods is owned by the immediate past governor of Benue State Gabriel Suswam. Milan Group is a business interest that also owns Intercontinental Hotels while Bua is owned by billionaire Ishaku Rabiu. Honeywell is owned by Oba Otudeko while Elephant Group is owned by Tunji Owoye. Labana Rice is owned by former Kebi State governor Adamu Aliero while Keresuk is owned by one Rotimi Williams.

Investigations revealed that for instance, Umza Internationa Farms Limited has a rice mill in Kano with a capacity of 30,000 MT. Beyond this mill, Umza has no other investment in local rice production. However, the company was given import allocations in two categories: 36,000 MT under existing miller allocation and also got 49,207 MT under investor allocation.

Dangote and Golden Penny have no existing mills but got 115.204 MT and 91,887 MT respectively. Stallion got a total allocation of 89,989 MT; that was 59,989 MT under investor allocation and 30,000 MT under existing miller allocation. It has two mills – one in Kano and another in Markurdi.

Investigations further revealed that Mikap Rice, owned by Michael Aondoakaa, has a very small scale mill of between 15,000 to 20,000 MT. The mill itself is government-funded. Mr. Aondoakaa got 82,897 MT of import quota.

Wacot is in seeds business only while Labana has two mills in Kebbi State. Many of the beneficiaries were found to have no investment in the rice value chain. They include Wacot, Honeywell, Elephant Group, AA Ibrahim, Milan, among others. Kersuk Farms has no mill. Stine Rice has a mill but it is not in working condition. Bua has only brown rice mill. It does not have parboiling capacity; the mill is defunct. However Bua received a total import allocation of 109,448 MT.

Ebony Agro owned by Charles Ugwu made wrong investment decision. It built rice mill in a place where there is no paddy. The same wrong investment decision of building a mill where there is no paddy was also made by Tara Agro. Many of the quota beneficiaries sold their allocations to importers. Mikap sold its quota to Elephant Group. Stine Rice sold its quota to a company called PJS. Elephant Group in May 2015 also received through the Jama’tul Nasril Islam (JNI) waiver to import 100,000 MT of rice. The religious organisation had applied for and was granted waiver by President Goodluck Jonathan to import the said metric tonnes of rice and 25,000 metric tonnes of cooking oil described in a letter from the Budget Office of the Federation as ‘donated foodstuff’.

One smoking gun on sale of import quota is found with Umza International Farm Ltd. Shipping documents obtained by this newspaper showed that shortly after the release of quota allocations and Umza was named one of the beneficiaries, a letter dated December 20, 2014 instructed Marietta Bolten (owners of a ship MV Marietta) to divert a cargo of rice originally meant for delivery at Cotonou Port to Lagos Port. The cargo in question was a 15,500 MT Thai Parboiled Rice 100PCT Sortexed of Thailand Origin. The letter reads in part: “The above cargo was shipped on the above vessel … for delivery at the port of Cotonou – Benin but we, Navision Shipping A/S, hereby request you to order the vessel to proceed to and deliver the said cargo at Port Lagos – Nigeria to Pearl Universal Impex Ltd, 7A Asa Afariogun Street, Off Osolo Way, Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos, Nigeria.

The same Navision Shipping on the same day gave two more instructions to Marietta ordering it to divert another cargo of 3900.650 MT Thai Parboiled rice to Port Harcourt for Pearl Universal Impex. This second cargo, originally meant for Cotonou Port was originally consigned to STE Premiere Sarl, Niamey, Niger Republic. The third cargo, 18,500MT Thai Parboiled rice, originally destined for Cotonou Port was diverted on instruction to Port Harcourt.

A visit to Pearl Universal Impex in Ajao Estate, Lagos, showed that the company is no more at No, 7A Asa Afariogun Street, the land address used for the shipping transaction. There was no forwarding address. Pearl Universal Impex is a major rice importer owned by a group of foreign businessmen that include the Chairman Pulkit Jain, Nimit Jain, Pranshu Goel and Ramanathan Srinivasan. Pulkit Jain was quoted in a recent media report that his company “has been a major importer of rice in the country with imports of 350,000 metric tonnes of rice annually in the past”

Given that Nigeria is the only country that consumes parboiled rice, any cargo of parboiled rice going to Cotonou is in the first place is meant to come into Nigeria through land borders.

All the cargoes diverted belonged to Umza International Farm Ltd, one of the companies that benefitted from government subsidy.

Shipping documents show that diverted rice cargoes with the following bill of lading: MRT1409-01(10,000 MT), MRT1409-03(1,000 MT), MRT1409-04(1,000 MT), MRT1409-05(1,000 MT), MRT1409-09(1494.650 MT) and MRT1409-20(806.000MT) were consigned to Umza International Farm.

Yet another document showed that Umza International Farm Ltd has been importing rice from Thailand purportedly to be transhipped to Niger Republic. In October 2014 Umza, using the same ship MV Marietta imported 1,000 MT of Golden Standard brand of parboiled rice to Cotonou for ‘transit to Niger’. The Umza cargo has bill of lading MRT1409-03.

The same 1000 MT of same bill of lading MRT1409-03 is named in the instruction letter to the ship owners Marietta Bolten on 20th December 2014 to be diverted to Port Harcourt shortly after Umza was named as a beneficiary of Federal Government rice import quota. So also was another cargo of bill of lading MRT1409-04 with Niger Republic as its original destination.

Industry stakeholders are confused as to how consignments of parboiled rice are transhipped to a country that does not consume parboiled rice. Maritime experts say this is another red flag of irregularities and sabotage of the rice value chain adding that parboiled rice is not the only item ‘officially smuggled into Nigeria’ in the guise the goods were meant for Niger Republic.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/195509-investigation-inside-the-massive-fraud-in-nigerias-n117billion-rice-import-quota-scheme.html

It is only when u hava a Drunkard as president that such nonsense can happen.

LordAdam:
IDIOTS!!!

Did you guys read the article?



EKPA!!!

Was it GEJ that told the companies not to fulfill their end of the bargain? Is the PMB government not still maintaining the illicit rice quota 6 months into the government? Is it not the same thing that is happening with fuel subsidy? Did the PMB government not pay the fraudulent marketers N400b a few weeks back.

You guys are the evil in Nigeria. POT calling KETTLE black. HYPOCRITES!!!

-Lord

The grouse is the GEJ (and largely, the PDP) administration institutionalised brazen corruption and ineptitude.

When I give a job to someone under my purview, I should follow it up to the best conclusion.

Otherwise, people see my weakness and use same against me. I bear the brunt. The supervisor bears the brunt for his subordinates.

That institution is now a big clog in the wheel of this new administration

Nigeria using Benin rep as pawns since time immemorial...

LordAdam:
With all due respect, it is a good policy. In saner climes, fraud still occurs but on a very reduced scale.

Maybe you did not understand the policy. But the government sought to favor those that invest in local rice production with reduced import duty to encourage them to build Nigeria's rice production capacity, while those that did not invest got high import duty to discourage them from importing without investing in local rice production. What would you rather the GEJ administration did?

-Lord

Look my frd go & read d post again & again & understand it b4 u comment.

LordAdam:
Follow up a bit?

Is he the one to follow up? The EFCC and ICPC, are they not independent bodies? What about the regulatory agencies? Is he also the person heading all of them? Why did their respective heads not ensure that the policies were enforced and fraud were eliminated. Was it GEJ that informed them to let corruption thrive?

I remember the Odua scandal and how the woman was protected by GEJ, so I'm not saying GEJ was perfect. But PMB is no different. Why is everybody silent about the role of Sanusi and Emefiele in Dasukigate? Or that Femi Adesina as Editor received money (although it has now been returned)? Why are they not still lambasted if they are not protected by PMB.

As I said, the status quo remains. After Buharigate, the mills of Dasukigate has gone worringly silent. When you point a finger at someone, four figures are pointing back at you.

-Lord

OGA! you are right and also wrong!
Buharigate and Adeshinagate!
Weigh any evidence b4 commenting, when evidence are weak don't rush to comment. Don't eat your words at the end of the day.
social media and news papers are viber evidence. when dasuki and his go to court say this when defending themselves, and prove it agreeable to the judge and audience in court.
m
Moreover, Adesina is not the MD/GMD/COE of THE SUN newspaper..........
he is just a mere employee!
Grap your evidence at wrist not at shoulder!
..,............................................................................

LordAdam:
Study the romance between the Department of Defense in the US and Lockheed Martin. Do you know it is legal in Nigeria, the US, and elsewhere for businesses to lobby members of the parliament to do their bidding? How do you suppose the masses overturn that?

Free trade may work in certain scenarios, but it is not a perfect solution. Don't put the cart before the horse. Work on accountability, then we can talk about ending nepotism. For as long as businesses and wealthy businessmen keep sponsoring politicians, the politicians will keep pushing things the way of the businesses. Asking for any different is asking for utopia.

First things first. Address accountability. Let the nation be on its feet. Then we can target nepotism. The West did not become this high and mighty in one day. They followed a natural growth process. We too must not delude ourselves to think that we can jump the gun.

-Lord

I have to disagree on some points: whilst lobbying is perfectly legal, the people of the U.S. dislike its influence on politicians and are constantly fighting it. Hillary Rodham-Clinton is using (as one of her campaign stands) the fact that she is anti-lobbyists (and btw it isn't true as word has gotten out that the Tobacco industry gave her money). People attempt to punish politicians who are publicly seen to be working in favour of certain companies by refusing to vote for them. Industries such as Insurance, NRA and Big Pharma are the most hated (there's even a widespread belief that government is forcing unnecessary vaccines on children because of Big Pharma's influence and people pushed back by refusing to vaccinate their children, saying it led to Austism and other mental issues. So states like California were forced to sign bills insisting all school age kids be vaccinated or not be allowed to attend school). My point is, Lobbying has its place but is easily abused.

I've seen it up close in Nigeria, a private company will come up with a great scheme and it will be killed by politicians in government. Who will then turn around and execute that same scheme through their friends, allies and businessmen who have supported their campaign. But instead of the politician to be the voice of the masses, he becomes greedy and focuses on profits. LCC in Lagos is the best example of this (a lot of tax companies in the SW are fronts for a particular godfather of politics and a lot of energy ideas from more prepared companies like GE were killed in favour of smaller companies because they are a strong international company and politicians couldn'to get into their system and benefit as massively).

Maybe free trade will help Nigeria's issues as lobbying in Nigeria is truly corruption.

I warned this country many months ago . Jonathan the clueless destroyed all the good work his agriculture minister did with this rice importation thing. All the licenses went to the PDP and the rice was mainly used for elections bribery.Nigerian rice farmers wet comprehensively destroyed just before the elections. Imported rice arrived at supermarkets 100% cheaper tan local rice

Corruption can never end.

CecyAdrian:
So, who did ?

Emmanuel Mayah. The article was the result from an in depth investigation by a journalist team at Premium Times.

I am not against that which is why I said, the write-up is okay in one of my comments. It is in fact a welcome development in the media considering that someone at the Tribune fabricated a ghost interview.

-Lord

allthingsgood:
You seem to be endorsing corruption here. Stop it! Your man GEJ is the worst thing to happen to this nation!

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion. If you think GEJ is the worst thing that happened to Nigeria, I don't give a rat as.s.

Tell APC to stop the double-standardness, hypocrisy, and more importantly that they should get down to work.

-Lord

Abbeyme:
The grouse is the GEJ (and largely, the PDP) administration institutionalised brazen corruption and ineptitude.

When I give a job to someone under my purview, I should follow it up to the best conclusion.

Otherwise, people see my weakness and use same against me. I bear the brunt. The supervisor bears the brunt for his subordinates.

That institution is now a big clog in the wheel of this new administration

Oga, do you know how many ministries and agencies are under the President.

I hope we should also hold PMB responsible for the extrajudicial killing of Biafran celebrants in Onitsha. Don't talk with two side of your mouth, it is irritating.

If this was the fault of the Minister or the head of an agency like Dasuki, you can blame GEJ and I will stand down. Those are the people GEJ appointed directly. In this case, the Minister did his best to pursue the policy, but as the article said the honorable minister's effort was maligned by grouse elements in the polity and economic brass.

The institution was a big clog in the wheel of GEJ too. The problem did not originate under GEJ. It has been there since 1960. GEJ inherited it, same thing with PMB. Let PMB find a solution since he said he could. But you dare not blame GEJ like he orchestrated the problem.

You sound like you are aged, so don't discuss the economicopolital (pardon the word I coined) mishap in Nigeria like an 11 yr old kid.

-Lord

billyG:
Look my frd go & read d post again & again & understand it b4 u comment.

Next!

lawydewy:
OGA! you are right and also wrong!
Buharigate and Adeshinagate!
Weigh any evidence b4 commenting, when evidence are weak don't rush to comment. Don't eat your words at the end of the day.
social media and news papers are viber evidence. when dasuki and his go to court say this when defending themselves, and prove it agreeable to the judge and audience in court.
m
Moreover, Adesina is not the MD/GMD/COE of THE SUN newspaper..........
he is just a mere employee!
Grap your evidence at wrist not at shoulder!
..,............................................................................

Oga, my issue is not the validity of the accusations. It is how the ferocity of the scandal subsided after members of the PMB administration were linked to the scandal. It says a lot. It is double-standard, plain and simple.

-Lord

Onegai:
I have to disagree on some points: whilst lobbying is perfectly legal, the people of the U.S. dislike its influence on politicians and are constantly fighting it. Hillary Rodham-Clinton is using (as one of her campaign stands) the fact that she is anti-lobbyists (and btw it isn't true as word has gotten out that the Tobacco industry gave her money). People attempt to punish politicians who are publicly seen to be working in favour of certain companies by refusing to vote for them. Industries such as Insurance, NRA and Big Pharma are the most hated (there's even a widespread belief that government is forcing unnecessary vaccines on children because of Big Pharma's influence and people pushed back by refusing to vaccinate their children, saying it led to Austism and other mental issues. So states like California were forced to sign bills insisting all school age kids be vaccinated or not be allowed to attend school). My point is, Lobbying has its place but is easily abused.

I've seen it up close in Nigeria, a private company will come up with a great scheme and it will be killed by politicians in government. Who will then turn around and execute that same scheme through their friends, allies and businessmen who have supported their campaign. But instead of the politician to be the voice of the masses, he becomes greedy and focuses on profits. LCC in Lagos is the best example of this (a lot of tax companies in the SW are fronts for a particular godfather of politics and a lot of energy ideas from more prepared companies like GE were killed in favour of smaller companies because they are a strong international company and politicians couldn'to get into their system and benefit as massively).

Maybe free trade will help Nigeria's issues as lobbying in Nigeria is truly corruption.

Ma'am you have to understand that this is planet earth. There are no perfect tools. Every tool like the Internet for example when used by the wrong people leads to undesirable scenarios.

You do not throw the baby with the baby water. Or outlaw the use of knives because they can be used to kill, when you know it has an indispensable use in the kitchen.

Everything boils down to the people not the tool. We need to challenge their use of the privilege they have. That they should not abuse it. That is accountability.

They can give it to their associates, but they have to follow due process and ensure that they do not flout the very rules they created at the very least.

Be real. If your uncle is the registrar of a tertiary institution and your ward is seeking admission into that institution, will you not seek the influence of your uncle? In any case, it would be foolhardy for your ward to get in without writing either UTME nor the post-UTME but rely solely on your uncle to get your ward in.

This is common sense! We are adults, not kids who believe in fairies and Santa.

-Lord

Ijaya123:
GEJ ineptitude government practically brought this nation to its knees...and we are still struggling to get up.

May God help PMB.

GEJ did not know half of what was happening in his government.

stonemasonn:
GEJ did not know half of what was happening in his government.

And he is supposed to be the president of the largest black nation on earth...*phew!*

Never again.

themilanway:
It wasn't"media circus"when same paper reported that Boko haram killed over 100 soldiers?

You guys double standard reeks to high heaven.

And what do you think it is when a media comes out to say such against the NA.
It was clear the intention was to destabilize every work of the nation in the fight against b.h.

omohayek:
No, the problem is that import substitution schemes are not good policy, even if they look good to laymen without economic literacy. Putting aside the fact that even a corruption-free scheme would still hurt consumers more than it would benefit rice growers, any time politicians are given an opportunity to tamper with trade, they are also provided with a new means to enrich themselves through corrupt practices. Under a free-trade regime, there would be no room for subsidies, import licenses and other such invitations to corruption.

The strange thing about political interference with markets in Nigeria is that the Nigerian masses never learn that these interventions are never to their benefit. One would think most Nigerians would be aware by now that the only parts of the economy that work properly are exactly those bits where the politicians have least influence.

Please allow me to marry your post.

omohayek:
No, the problem is that import substitution schemes are not good policy, even if they look good to laymen without economic literacy. Putting aside the fact that even a corruption-free scheme would still hurt consumers more than it would benefit rice growers, any time politicians are given an opportunity to tamper with trade, they are also provided with a new means to enrich themselves through corrupt practices. Under a free-trade regime, there would be no room for subsidies, import licenses and other such invitations to corruption.

The strange thing about political interference with markets in Nigeria is that the Nigerian masses never learn that these interventions are never to their benefit. One would think most Nigerians would be aware by now that the only parts of the economy that work properly are exactly those bits where the politicians have least influence.

God bless you

Take one bottle of e-orijin and e-chicken