The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa\u2019ad Abubakar III, has urged the Nigeria<\/p>\n
Customs Service to consider lifting the ban on importation of rice through
\nthe land borders.<\/p>\n
The Sultan made the call when the Comptroller-General of the Service, Col.
\nHameed Ali (retd), visited him in his palace in Sokoto on Monday.<\/p>\n
He said that the order had brought hardship on the Nigerian masses as it
\nhad aggravated scarcity of the commodity in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe policy should be revisited with a view to make amends and ameliorate
\nthe suffering of Nigerians,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The sultan said that he had been receiving \u201ccries\u2019\u2019 from the masses on
\ntheir plight over hardship in the land, and appealed to the service to
\naddress the issue urgently.<\/p>\n
\u201dThere is no food in the country hence the need for the borders to be
\nreopened for rice importation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He, however, commended the renewed efforts of the Federal Government to
\nboost domestic production of rice.<\/p>\n
The monarch assured that the traditional institution would continue to
\nsensitize the people to the need to support the policies of government at
\nall levels.<\/p>\n
He condemned smuggling and charged the service to mobilize the people to
\noffer information that could aid the arrest and prosecution of
\nperpetrators.<\/p>\n
\u201dNigerians must be duly informed about the negative effect smuggling has
\non the nation\u2019s economy,\u201d he said. Earlier, Ali had said that he was in
\nSokoto to effectiveness of enforcement of the ban on rice importation
\nthrough land borders.<\/p>\n
He said that the order was a measure by the Federal government to
\nencourage and protect local production of the commodity. Ali solicited the
\nsupport of the Sultanate council in ensuring the success of the fight
\nagainst smuggling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa\u2019ad Abubakar III, has urged the Nigeria Customs Service to consider lifting the ban on importation of rice through the land borders. The Sultan made…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n