…13m jobs may be lost
The renewed foreign rice smuggling into the Country is threatening the N3.4 trillion investments in rice processing sub-sector of the economy, the Director General of the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) Mr Andy Ekwelem has said.
Mr Ekwelem, who disclosed this at a news conference held in Abuja weekend, warned that if not checked, the gains already recorded may be eroded just as over thirteen (13) million jobs may be lost in the rice value chain.
He said imported rice has flooded Nigerian markets despite the ban imposed on the product by government to encourage local production and self-sufficiency.
Local rice millers have sent a save our soul (SOS) message to federal government to end the activities of foreign rice smugglers or Nigeria will lose at least N3.4trn local investments in rice and throw 3.2 million Nigerians on the streets without jobs. Mr. Andy Ekwelem, the Director General, Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) […]
Stakeholders in the value chain, including local processors and growers, have expressed dismay over the development, saying it would reverse the gains recorded in the last few years.
However, some observers have blamed millers for mopping up paddy rice and processing it in piecemeal, to attract more profit, thereby sabotaging the effort of the federal government in making rice affordable to Nigerians.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in December, 2020, directed that the four borders that were closed in 2019 be reopened. Some traders told our correspondents that even while the border closure lasted, the commodity was a common sight in almost every shop.