Imported rice only fit for animals, buy Made-in-Nigeria rice, Minister tells Nigerians

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has urged Nigerians to stop consuming foreign rice imported into the country, warning that theyre only fit to be consumed by cattle.

While addressing journalists in Oro, Kwara State on Tuesday, August 21, 2018, the minister said imported rice is only cheaper because of its sub-standard quality which is so bad it is only fit to be consumed by cattle.

According to the minister, the producers of imported rice are dumping them in the country after keeping them in silos for years. He urged Nigerians to discourage rice smuggling into the country by patronising rice made by local farmers because it is the only healthy rice.

He further noted that the federal government is doing its best to boost rice production in Nigeria with the goal of making the country self-sufficient.

He said, "Many of the imported brands of rice will not pass the NAFDAC test; that is why we have continued to campaign that Nigerians should patronise Nigerian rice, because it is the only healthy rice. No Nigerian rice is older than one year.

"You have rice coming from other countries that has been produced for five or six years, which normally they will feed to their cattle in their countries, which they are feeding us with today. But gradually, I can assure you that with the Anchor Borrowers' Programme, more support will be given to our farmers in the next couple of years. Not only that we are going to be self-sufficient in rice production, it will become cheaper."

Lai praises Buhari's administration on rice revolution

The minister also praised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for improving agriculture in the country especially in the area of rice production.

He said, "When we came in, there were five million rice farmers. Today, we have in excess of 11 million rice farmers. Our rice import has been cut by over 80%.

"These didn't happen by accident. They were as a result of our Anchor Borrowers' Programme. There are more millionaire farmers today than at any other time in the history of our nation.

"Today, Nigeria is closer to achieving self-sufficiency in rice than at any other time in the history of our country."

The government has been vocal in its resolve to fight importation of rice in its bid to make the country grow it on its own.

In June 2018, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, disclosed that the government would soon shut the border shared with an unspecified neighbouring country trying to damage Nigeria's economy by smuggling rice into the country.