The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on Thursday, said smuggling is responsible for the rising cost of rice in the country.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, the Minister said smuggling is affecting the market and hurting the citizens.
“Unfortunately there is a lot of distortion and the distortion is arising from smuggling of goods into the country,” the Minister said.
“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 also reiterated the Federal Government’s efforts in fighting smuggling, noting that there is a combined team of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Police, the Department of Security Services (DSS) among others to rid the nation of economic saboteurs.
