Nigeria’s federal government has banned the importation of rice through the country’s land borders, according to the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
“All imported rice must come through the sea ports with duty paid on them, according to the law,” NCS spokesman Wale Adeniji said in a statement over the weekend.
He said the ban was expected to end the massive smuggling of rice, which the NCS said has cost the country 27 billion naira (US$170 million) since January.
The spokesman said the NCS had impounded 35,194 bags of rice estimated to cost about 217 million naira (US$1.34) in the last two months.
