Sound trade policy recommendation for Nigeria

The president of Rice Importers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (RIDAN), Gbadamosi Mufutau,

urged the federal government to harmonize the duty on rice with the neighbouring countries to discourage smuggling. “You observed that any increase in duty, tariff, levies and benchmark always cause increase of importation of such products to Republic Benin and Togo ports with the intention of smuggling such products into Nigeria markets,” he said.

The main reason for his policy advice? He said:

Smugglers have almost driven the importers into extinction because they evade duty and taxes and sell at cheaper prices. You know that the margin on a bag of rice is quite small, a maximum of N150 per bag. For those of us that import into the country through sea ports pay duties, levies and pay wages, one would see that the smugglers are sabotaging the economy.

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