Illegally imported rice worth 3 billion Naira ($3.9 billion) has been impounded in Nigeria and 344 suspects arrested.
On Wednesday, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) said the rice was illegally shipped into the country between May 2022 and May 2023.
A total of 206,835 bags of the cereal have been recovered so far, with a bulk of them seized in May 2023.
NCS public relations officer, Abdullahi Maiwada, said the agency will hire more personnel to help in the fight against contraband imports.
“We are doing everything possible to make sure that we curtail smuggling to the barest minimum,” he said.
The Farmers Association of Nigeria has commended the government for making the arrests, saying illegally imported rice has affected the prices of the cereal in the local market.
Nigeria is Africa’s leading rice producer. In 2021, the country produced 8.3 million metric tonnes.
Egypt and Madagascar followed with an output of about 4.8 million and 4.4 million metric tonnes of rice respectively.
