By Babatunde Ayedoju

It is no longer news that economic hardship is biting hard on Nigerians who can no longer afford staple food items like rice, beans and cassava flakes, popularly called garri, among others. In the midst of this hardship, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), last month, announced that it had begun distribution of seized food items to Nigerians to help mitigate the current hardship in the country.

Speaking at the flag-off of the exercise in Lagos, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Mr Wale Adeniyi, had said that the Federal Government ordered the distribution of the seized food items to needy Nigerians, adding that potential beneficiaries would need to present their National Identification Numbers (NIN) before they could get their own share of the food.

His words: “Our targets include artisans, teachers, religious organisations and other Nigerians within the area of customs operations, including the border areas. The intention of this distribution is to reach out directly to members of organisations that have structures, to ensure the maximum impact of the exercise.

“The effort of the distribution is to ensure robust security protocol throughout the process as officers will closely monitor the entre supply chain to prevent any misuse or possible diversion of food items. We collaborate with other sister agencies of government, while customs is the lead agency because the food items are with us. Among us here are the police, DSS, and tomorrow we are going to have full department of all the sister organisations for proper monitoring,” he added.

Adeniyi, at the event, said that the rice distributed had been certified for consumption by the National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), before being re-bagged to 25 kg so as to reach as many Nigerians as possible.

Meanwhile, it would be recalled that in May 2022, the Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, of the NCS said its officers intercepted 7,250 bags of rice, with laboratory test conducted by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) indicating that about 1,000 of the bags of rice named SIMBA contained Lead (a soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element), thereby making them unfit for human consumption.

Addressing journalists in Lagos at that time, Customs Area Controller of the Unit, Acting Controller Hussein Ejibunu, said that the unit seized other items such as 55,800 litres of PMS, 73 bales of used clothes, 82 units of used fridges, 104 pieces of compressors, 143 bales of new textile, 1,264 pieces of used tyres, 156 cartons of frozen poultry and 7,960 pairs of new shoes amongst others.

According to Ejibunu, “Pursuant to the Federal Government’s policy that encourages local production of rice against the importation of foreign parboiled rice, this Unit has seized 7,259 (of 50 kg each) bags of rice, which is an equivalent of over twelve (12) trucks load.

“Sequel to a laboratory test analysis on some of the seized foreign parboiled rice by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), one of the test parameters indicated some contents of lead (a soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element) in the tested rice; making it unfit for human consumption.

“Consequent upon this laboratory analysis on the foreign parboiled rice; as a responsible government agency, we are letting Nigerians know that apart from the negative economic impact of importing foreign rice into the country, some of these imported rice are unhealthy for human consumption. Thus, we advise consumers to desist from patronizing the federal government banned foreign parboiled rice. We as citizens have a collective responsibility to safeguard our economy and health for the benefit of all.”

At a point, the Customs Service seized rice, alongside other food items, and tests by NAFDAC showed that some of the rice were unsafe for consumption. Now, the Customs Service is distributing rice certified safe for consumption by NAFDAC. What could be the missing link?

Professor Simon Ehiabhi from the Department of History and International Studies, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, said that while there might have been a mixup in the information provided by the concerned Federal Government agencies, it is also possible that some of the rice seized two years ago is unsafe while the one being distributed now is safe.

He, however, added that no matter amount of intervention now can solve hunger problem in Nigeria. His words: “Farmers are no longer farming, due to insecurity. Considering the population of Nigerians and the number of people who are hungry, we need to ask that how many Nigerians can intervention cover. The money you have cannot buy what you need. This is a mere smokescreen political intervention to create the impression that Government is sympathetic.”

Lending the weight of his voice to the matter, Dr Chris Ofonyelu from the Department of Economics, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, noted that we cannot use the news in public domain to determine what is really happening in the corridors of power because Government agencies do not always present the true picture of things to the public, due to corruption in government circles.

He added that even before now, so many of the seized food items might have gone back into the public domain without people knowing, as there are many of the items that have been seized over time.

Mrs. Modupe Aiyegbusi, a nutritionist, recommended multiple laboratory tests for the rice being distributed, to ascertain the content of the minerals, adding that lead itself is a kind of mineral. She said that even though NAFDAC has reportedly tested the rice being distributed and certified good for consumption, scientists still need to take it upon themselves to do proper checks on the food items to corroborate the NAFDAC result, emphasizing such tests need to be done before and after cooking.

On the other hand, Dr Kunle Akinola from the Department of Political Science, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko said that the Nigerian Customs Service is an agency of the Federal Government and it will be very difficult for such a Federal Government agency to push out something that will harm members of the public, adding that if it is not good for consumption, we would have had feedback from people who ate it.

His words: “Assuming that the rice is not good, we would have gotten feedback from those who consumed it. You can trust Nigerians for that. Don’t forget that information is no longer under the control of the Federal Government alone. We now have social media. Since we have not gotten any negative report, I think we can agree with the Customs Service that the rice is safe for consumption.”