The Nigerian Customs Service has pointed fingers at unpatriotic Nigerians engaged in illicit exportation as the root cause of the current woes experienced by citizens amid President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies.
Furthermore, the service highlighted the crucial role of cooperation and collaboration among stakeholders in addressing the pressing food crisis facing the nation.
Speaking during his visit to Yola on Thursday, the Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, shared this insight while engaging with Dr. Barkindo Mustapha, the Lamido of Adamawa.
Adeniyi, through the acting Controller of the Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘D’, Joseph Adelaja, highlighted their visit to the palace aimed at securing the monarch’s cooperation in combating the actions of unethical businessmen exacerbating the nation’s food insecurity.
He clarified that the purpose of the visit was to garner cooperation, especially regarding information on the activities of hoarders, whose actions have led to the skyrocketing prices of food commodities.
He said, “Because of the current economic reforms going on in the country, we are confronted with food insecurity. This food insecurity is occasioned by the illicit exportation of essential commodities.
“We are urging all to support us in this fight with the necessary information to tackle the menace of hoarding we have faced which has caused a hike in the potential prices of essential food commodities. Food security is the business of every Nigerian. Prices today have gone up extra-ordinarily like we have never had before because unpatriotic individuals are exporting foods that are meant for Nigerians.”
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Adelaja, accompanied by other senior customs officers, decried the activities of unpatriotic businessmen.
He said, “People are hungry and you are exporting food out of the country to feed other nations.
This is not in the best interest of the country and we must all join hands to tackle the menace headlong.”
In his remarks, the Galadima of Adamawa, Mustapha Aminu, who represented the Lamido, said the role of the customs in national food security and sustenance was indispensable.
He urged the customs to remain steadfast in its economic and security role while pledging the support of the Emirate to the customs in achieving its goal of tackling the current economic food crisis.
Africa Today News, New York, reports that amid the free fall of the naira to the United States dollar, traders who deal in grains have devised a way to sell their wares to neighbouring countries for higher profits.
Many of them, who spoke to our correspondents, claimed that they preferred to sell their wares to the countries because they had stronger currencies compared to the naira.
This, several experts have said, may lead to hoarding and an artificial grain scarcity and can cause the price of the goods to further head north, thereby leading to a food crisis if nothing is done about it.
This development coincides with a period of intense hunger in the country, with staple prices surging by more than 300 percent.Additionally, the nation is experiencing its highest inflation rate in 28 years, with the food inflation rate reaching 35.41 percent in January.
According to official data from the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s annual inflation rate climbed to 29.90 percent in the same month, up from 28.92 percent in December 2023.
For example, the current price of a bag of long-grain rice has soared to almost N80,000, a sharp increase from its December 2023 price of N45,000. Similarly, a crate of eggs now costs almost N5,000, compared to N2,700 in December.
Numerous other food items have experienced a staggering surge in prices due to various market dynamics, primarily attributed to the sharp depreciation of the naira.