Business
BORDER CLOSURE: Price of rice slashed
Prices of locally processed rice will now sell between N13,300 and N14,000 as the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) Thursday said the association had agreed to sell rice at the new prices.
The President of RIPAN, Mohammed Maifata, who stated this during a chat with journalists in Abuja, expressed the association’s support for the closure of the land border with Benin Republic and other neighboring countries by the Federal Government.
He said: “We are not going to take advantage of the border closure for ourselves by hiking the price of rice.
“As such, we all agreed that we are going to sell our rice from now on at N13,300 minimum and maximum, because for some, their location is very far from the paddy and so very difficult for them to operate — but upon that, there is no Nigerian rice that will be sold above N14,000 at factory.
“This is the commitment we made to government and we are determined and we are willing to keep to our words God willing. Any contrary activities is not from us as we expect saboteurs to take advantage of the situation. But we assure you that this will be our price.”
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Commending the Nigeria Customs Service for its current fight against smuggling of the commodity, Maifata called on various security agencies who are mandated by the current directive to intensify the fight to check the various porous borders.
According to him, the move was needed to address the rising case of rice smuggling into Nigeria from neighbouring countries.
While insisting that the border closure was “long overdue,” and that it was done in the best interest of the economy, Maifata said the action of the government had suddenly returned life to the rice value chain, as the hitherto subdued mills had resumed operations within one week of the border closure.
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