Rice smugglers responsible for inflation in food price — Minister

The Federal Government has said that the lack of adequate security around the border which has continuously aided smuggling is responsible for the rising price of rice across the country.

It stated that smuggling is responsible for the rising cost of rice across the country, saying this is why there have been changes in security tactics at different borders to curb the smuggling menace.

The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this during an interview while speaking on the efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to boost the economy.

Zainab, while stating that smuggling was affecting the market and hurting the citizens’ income, said: “Unfortunately there is a lot of distortion and the distortion is arising from smuggling of goods into the country.

“We have unpatriotic Nigerians that will bring rice that is poor quality, some of it not even fit for human consumption, and come and dump it in the market,” she added.

Ahmed also reiterated the Federal Government’s efforts in fighting smuggling, noting that there is a combined team of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Police, the Department of Security Services (DSS) among others to rid the nation of economic saboteurs.