The government of Niger Republic has stopped the exportation of rice to Nigeria.
Hameed Ali, the comptroller-general of the Nigerian Customs Service, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja on October 14, 2019.
He said, “The government, through diplomatic channels, will continue to engage our neighbours to agree to comply with ECOWAS Protocol on transit,” he said.
“Goods that are on the prohibition list in Nigeria, such as rice, used clothes, poultry products, and vegetable oil should not be exported to the country.
“As a result of this border closure, Niger Republic has already circulated an order banning the exportation of rice in any form to Nigeria.”
Okay.ng recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari during an audience granted his Beninois counterpart, Patrice Talon, on the margins of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD7), in Yokohama, Japan, said rice smuggling threatened the self-sufficiency already attained due to his administration’s agricultural policies.
