Rice, poultry smuggling, economic sabotage – Saraki

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, has condemned the high rate of smuggling of rice and poultry products into the country, describing it as an economic sabotage.

Saraki said this when the Chief Executive Officer of Anadariya Farms, Mr. Usman Dantata Jnr. and representatives of the Poultry Farmers’ Association of Nigeria visited him in Abuja.

“Nigeria can no longer serve as a dumping ground for imported smuggled goods,” he stated.

In a statement on Wednesday by the Special Assistant to the Senate President on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, Saraki was quoted as also tasking the Nigeria Customs Service with stepping up its anti- smuggling campaign.

He said, “The second issue you raised, which has become a very big issue, is the issue of smuggling. We all know that about 40 per cent to 50 per cent of poultry products are still being smuggled into the country and this is bad. Something needs to be done about it.

“The Nigeria Customs Service must sit up because it (smuggling) is an economic sabotage. It is now that we must stop this smuggling, particularly of agricultural products like rice and chicken. We will take this up aggressively. Without that, we are only wasting our time. Nothing we are going to do at this level in support of agriculture if products are still going to be smuggled in. Chicken is still being smuggled in; rice is still being smuggled in.”