Nigeria Owed N44bn Import Duties By Stallion,Olam

The Stallion Group and Olam International, two companies involved in rice importation are owing Nigeria whopping N44 billion as unpaid import duties on rice they imported since May 2014.

This disclosure was made yesterday while the two companies appeared before the Senate ad-hoc Committee on Rice Waivers probing the flagrant abuse of rice import duty waiver policy in the country.

The invitation of Stallion and Olam by the committee was the offshoot of a motion by Senator Adamu Aliero, in July where he drew the attention of the Senate to alleged abuse of waiver policy on rice.

According to him, some government officials, hiding under the cloak of the waiver policy of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, granted arbitrary waivers to rice importers.

The trend, he noted, was denying Nigeria of huge revenues derivable from import duties as well as local production of rice by Nigerian farmers.

The motion led to a resolution setting up the ad-hoc committee by the Senate to probe the perceived abuse.

While demanding for payment of the money, chairman of the committee, Aliero, said Nigeria would not fold its arms and watch the huge debt swept under the carpet.

“There is no way the government will ignore this kind of money. We have to ensure that that this money is collected and deposited into the federation account,” Aliero said.

Aliero further disclosed that the companies imported rice into the country without paying duties, off-loaded it into their warehouses only to refuse to pay required duties when asked by the Nigeria Customs Service.

According to him, while Stallion Group was accosted by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), to demand for the money, the company opted to drag NCS to the court.

He also disclosed how the company flouted the quota given to it to import 157,000 metric tonnes of rice with impunity by opting to unilaterally import 457,000 metric tonnes in excess of its required quota.

In his defence, Executive Director of Stallion Group, Harpreet Singh, claimed that its mission in Nigeria was to ensure that the country was self-sufficient in rice production and equally ensure that the nation is saved from scarcity of the product.

He also claimed that Nigerian borders were porous, adding that former President Goodluck Jonathan granted the approval on fiscal policy on rice production on May 26, 2014.

According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture opted to flout the tenets of the policy by giving quotas to “non-existing millers and investors who have no connection with the policy while existing investors were left blind.”

He claimed further that the Stallion Group’s investments in Nigeria were not giving jobs to foreigners but to Nigerians, saying his company had lost millions of naira to activities of smugglers as a result of porous borders.

On her part, Olam which claimed that it had the largest rice farm in Africa and that it has been operating in Nigeria in the past 35 years, argued that given its long period of business operation in Nigeria, the company would not consider short-changing the nation.

According to Olam’s representative, Ade Adefeko, the company was seeking a legal opinion on the matter, saying whatever counsel it is given, it will be duly followed.

Thisday reportage.

Hmmmm!!!!