Stakeholders in the rice sector have lamented the rising cost of the produce in spite of the Federal Government’s tax waiver.

The stakeholders disclosed this in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

NAN reports that the Federal Government temporarily waived import duties and Value Added Tax on rice and other essential food items to help curb food inflation and ease economic pressures on citizens from July 15, 2024 to Dec. 31, 2024.

The eligible items include husked brown rice, sorghum, millet, maize, wheat, and beans.

Specifically, the Nigeria Customs Service, on Aug. 14, released implementation guidelines that temporarily waives all import (and associated levy) taxes for rice, sorghum, millet, corn, wheat, and beans until Dec. 31, 2024.

The Chairman Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Lagos State chapter, Mr Raphael Hunsa, urged the government to engage local rice farmers than overdependence on import of the produce.

“The tax waiver is being mishandled that is why we are not seeing its impact in cutting down the price of rice in our markets.

“The Federal Government is trying its best to do something about the food inflation in the country. It is just that when these provisions gets to the middlemen, before getting to the grassroots there are discrepancies.

“The government should call together the stakeholders in the rice sector to address the hike in the price of the produce.

“Let the government work together with the stakeholders for the sustainability, availability and sufficiency of rice locally.

“These set of businessmen that the government is giving license to import rice with tax waivers are just working for their own benefits.

“When the government partners with RIFAN and all stakeholders in the rice sector, it will get to the grassroots and the price of rice will drastically drop,” Hunsa said.

According to him, there will be enough rice if farmers are cultivating and harvesting regularly.

“When we have enough rice farmers cultivating and harvesting rice regularly, things will work well and there will be no need to import rice to country.

“The countries where we are importing rice if they do not cultivate rice then we will feed them and who will feed Nigerians?

“Let the government focus its attention on the local rice sector and then things will work well,” he said.

On his part, Mr Akin Alabi, agriculture expert and co-founder Corporate Farmers International, called for monitoring and compliance of the tax waiver at the nation’s borders.

“The government has effected tax waiver on rice, and that has been done many months ago. However, the reason why it is not effective is because there is difference between pronouncement and action.

“Now, the question is, when the Federal Government pronounces it, will government ensure it is actionable? That is the question. Are those tax waiver actionable at the borders?

“So, the government needs to work effectively with customs and ensure that the pronouncement of tax waiver on rice and other essential commodities is duly effected for the citizens.

So that we can get these food items at affordable prices.

“The festive season is just few days away and to be realistic, we do not know what the price of rice, a staple, might be in the next couple of days because of the rush that is going to come with it.

“So, government needs to tailor down the effectiveness of the tax waiver pronunciation to reflect on food prices,” Alabi said.

Also speaking, Mr John Nwabueze, foodstuff trader at Alimosho area of Lagos State, said the tax waiver on rice is not evident as the price of the produce is on the increase daily.

“The price of short grain rice is at N86,000 compared with N70,000 and below we sold two months ago. While the long grain rice now sells from N120,000 and above as against N80,000 sold two months ago.

“We heard the government has granted tax waiver for rice importation, but it is only in the news we see that, the case in the market is different, the price keep soaring.

“If the tax waiver on rice is enforced we will see it in the price of the produce, but they can say it and when we go to the market, we see something different.

“The price of rice may likely go up during the Christmas season but if the tax waiver is really implemented the price of a 50kg bag of rice can go as low as N50,000 to N65,000,” Nwabueze said.

Mrs Ada Okoli, a consumer, decried the current price of the produce in the market.

Okoli called for government’s intervention to address the persistent hike in the price of the produce and others ahead of the yuletide.

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has announced that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has approved three additional grades in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts, marking the fifth progress report since Nigeria was greylisted in February 2023.

FATF, established in 1995, is the global body tasked with leading actions to combat money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing.

The organisation greylisted Nigeria due to increasing capital inflows and deficiencies in addressing money laundering, terrorism, and arms financing.

In a statement issued on Sunday by the NFIU’s Strategic Communications Office in Abuja, the FATF granted the approval during a meeting of the Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) Technical Commission, which took place between November 17 and 23, 2024, in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Statutorily, Nigeria is now compliant (C) or largely compliant (LC) in 37 out of the 40 FATF recommendations, leaving three more to address.

The Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, who also serves as Nigeria’s National Correspondent (NC) for ECOWAS (GIABA), led Nigeria’s delegation to the meeting.

Included in the delegation were representatives from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Ministry of Justice (FMOJ), the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA).

A report from the Auditor-General of the Federation has uncovered over N197.72 billion in irregular contract payments across multiple ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).

The Auditor-General’s Annual Report on Non-Compliance and Internal Control Weaknesses, covering the period from 2020 to 2021, exposes these breaches and calls for corrective action to recover misappropriated funds.

Among the most concerning findings was the award of contracts worth N7.39 billion in breach of financial regulations. These irregularities, which occurred across 32 MDAs, violated Paragraph 2921(i) of the Financial Regulations (2009), which mandates open competitive bidding.

The Rural Electrification Agency in Abuja recorded the largest irregularity at N2.12 billion, while the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPM) had the smallest irregularity of N11.72 million.

The report also revealed that N167.59 billion was paid for jobs or contracts that were either partially executed or not executed at all, violating Paragraph 708 of the Financial Regulations.

The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) was responsible for the largest portion of this, amounting to N100 billion, while the National Centre for Women Development had the smallest irregularity at N2.17 million.

“The sum of N167,592,177,559.40 (one hundred and sixty-seven billion, five hundred and ninety-two million, one hundred and seventy-seven thousand, five hundred and fifty-nine naira, forty kobos) was the number of payments for jobs/contracts not executed by 31 ministries, departments and agencies.

“The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc., Abuja, has the highest amount of N100,000,000,000.00 (one hundred billion naira), while the National Centre for Women Development has the least amount of N2,171,766.44 (two million, one hundred and seventy-one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-six naira, forty-four kobo).”

Additionally, the report uncovered N20.33 billion in contracts awarded in violation of due process across 24 MDAs. These violations were found to contravene Section 16(21) of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007, which requires strict adherence to procurement plans and mandatory approvals before contracts are awarded. NSPM accounted for the largest share of these violations, totalling N14.14 billion.

A further N2.41 billion was found to have been paid for contracts exceeding financial thresholds without the required “Certificate of No Objection” from the Bureau of Public Procurement. This irregularity affected five MDAs, with Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital recording the highest at N1.06 billion.

The report categorised these findings as “cross-cutting,” indicating that they were systemic and affected at least four different MDAs. It criticised the weak internal controls within these agencies and emphasised the urgent need for stronger enforcement of financial regulations.

The Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly have been notified of the audit’s findings, which include recommendations to ensure accountability and prevent similar issues from arising in the future.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says one out of four individuals between ages 15 years and above would like to leave their communities permanently or at least temporarily.

The NBS said this in its General Household Survey-Panel (GHS-Panel) Wave 5  2023/2024 unveiled in Abuja on Thursday.

The report showed that more men aged 15 years and above wanted to leave their communities, representing 31. 2 per cent compared to women at 19.3 per cent.

It said that among age groups, 34.5 per cent of people between 20 and 30 years of age would like to migrate.

“This was followed by those between ages 15 and 18 at 26.9 per cent and those between ages 31 and 64 at 25 per cent.

“Among people ages 65 and above, only 6.5 per cent said that they would like to leave their communities.”

The report said that among those who would like to migrate, 35.3 per cent would like to move to Abuja and 26.6 per cent would like to relocate to another country.

The report revealed that those in the Southern zones predominantly reported that they would like to relocate to another country, while individuals in the Northern zones preferred to move to Abuja or another state.

The NBS said that nationally, 45.4 per cent of households had at least one former household member who had relocated within and outside the country.

According to the report, half of those former household members are females.

The report said that marriage was the main reason why former household members had relocated at 28.2 per cent, followed by those who had gone to live with relatives or friends at 21.2 per cent.

“This was followed by those who went to look for/start a new job or business at 14.6 per cent .

It showed that urban households were less likely to have a former household member who had migrated, with a reported share of 37 per cent compared to 49.3 per cent of rural area households.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the GHS-Panel is  Nigeria’s nationally representative longitudinal household survey which began in 2010 and had implemented five waves of the survey.

The panel nature of the data enables tracking household-level changes in critical areas of welfare, work, and socio-economic outcomes over time, yielding insights for policy. 

The Federal Government says it will collaborate with the World Bank to provide decent jobs directly or indirectly to no fewer than 10 million youths within the next five years.

Mr Ayodele Olawande, Minister of Youth Development, communicated this when he hosted the World Bank team lead by Mr Maheshwor Shrestha, World Bank Economist, on Thursday in Abuja.

Olawande said that the forum would enable him to update the team on the various activities and engagements of the ministry in the past months.

“The focus of the ministry has been to achieve the establishment of a strong coordinated mechanism for all youth intervention focused on economic inclusion and we want data to inform all we do.

”Provide decent jobs directly or indirectly for at least, 10 million youths within the next five years and ensure that every youth is proficient in at least, two income generating skills.

“Expand our credit support funds by 50 million dollars to reach more young people, including businesses led by going women, people with disabilities and young people in rural areas.’’

The minister said that the current reality showed that 60 million youths were in the labour bracket and an additional 5.5 million would join the labour market every year.

He said that almost 58 per cent of Nigeria’s informal workforce was young people.

“Despite these data, we see these opportunities for the development of the country if harnessed effectively,” he said.

Olawande said that the challenges hinged on deficient skills for job market, relevant vocational training and lack of access to capital and funds safety with infrastructural deficit.

In his speech, Shrestha said that no fewer than 60 million youths in Nigeria were underage at the moment.

According to him, it means that Nigeria needs to create enough opportunities for a huge pool of youths that are already there and who will be joining the way.

He said that every year, 5 and a half million would reach paid working age.

Shrestha said that only seven per cent of the youths were engaged in paid jobs.

“And even those are not permanent jobs; there are still informal jobs.

“So, if we look at overall, 93 per cent of the youths are working in an informal sector.’’

According to him, the bank is figuring out how to improve safety net support towards such people.

“What we are doing now is to think about how the framework applies at the state level.

“So, I think we are starting to work with the Governors’ Board of Secretaries to see how this approach applies at the state levels,” he said.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has commenced exporting refined petroleum products to nearby West African nations, signaling to traders that the refinery’s operations might soon disrupt regional fuel markets.

According to a Tuesday report by Bloomberg, citing data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, a port report, and a ship-tracking platform, a tanker has transported a shipment of gasoline from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to waters near Togo, a neighboring West African country.

The report mentioned that the vessel CL Jane Austen recently loaded over 300,000 barrels at the refinery and headed westward.

It is worth noting that last month, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Chairman of Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority, revealed that Ghana is exploring the option of purchasing petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery. This move aims to reduce reliance on costlier imports from Europe, which currently cost the nation around $400 million monthly.

The head of the NPA in Ghana, speaking at the OTL Africa Downstream Oil Conference in Lagos, stated that sourcing imports from Nigeria instead of Europe would lower the cost of other goods and services by eliminating freight charges.

“If the refinery reaches 650,000bpd a day capacity, all that volume cannot be consumed by Nigeria alone, so instead of us importing as we do right now from Rotterdam, it will be much easier for us to import from Nigeria and I believe that will bring down our prices,” Hamid said.

In the same vein, The PUNCH reported exclusively two weeks ago that the refinery was prepared to start exporting fuel to South Africa, Angola, and Namibia.

The statement also mentioned that four additional African nations – Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic – have begun discussions with the refinery.

A reliable source, who shared this information exclusively with one of our reporters, revealed that the management of the refinery, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, is in the final stages of negotiations with these countries to begin fuel shipments.

“I can confirm to you that talks are actually at the advanced stage with Ghana, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, while the initial discussion is coming up with Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic,” the source said.

The report also mentioned that the shipment of petroleum products is currently drifting near the coast of Lome, a well-known location for ship-to-ship transfers.

It remains unclear where the cargo of the CL Jane Austen will eventually be delivered.

While it is located off the coast of Togo, this area is frequently used for ship-to-ship transfers, suggesting the fuel could eventually be transported to another destination.

“While the shipment is tiny in the context of the global gasoline market, it signals the ramp-up of Dangote’s production and the potential to export significant volumes of gasoline beyond Nigeria, which could upend regional markets.”

The refinery sent its initial shipment of gasoline by sea to the commercial center of Lagos last month.

It is still uncertain if a significant portion of Dangote’s gasoline production will be exported.

In the previous month, the Federal Government lifted the state-owned oil company’s exclusive right to purchase fuel from the plant for domestic consumption, while still permitting the ongoing importation of fuel from Europe and the US, as per the regulatory framework.

The report states that a representative from Dangote did not reply to a request for comment.