Rice importation has tremendously thrive in Badagry area of Lagos
State amidst the Federal Government’s ban on the practice. markets along
Badagry Expressway close to Seme border, are stocked with various varieties of
smuggled rice, especially as the Christmas season approaches.
A
smuggler, who identified himself as Sunday Egeseme, was seen offloading bags of
rice from his car at Alaba Rago Market in Okokomaiko area of Lagos.
He described the business as “lucrative’’.
“We are
messengers to the main owners of the goods who are in the Seme border.
“Transporting
rice from Seme to customers in various location of the town is a fast moving
business with good returns,’’ Egeseme said.
He,
however, declined to say the exact amount it cost to ferry a bag of the
commodity. Egeseme, a driver, said that the Christmas period was the peak of
the business as many families depended more on the consumption of rice.
At
Doyin Bus Stop market before Navy Gate Market, Okokomaiko, a trader who could
not find space at the Alaba rice market, was seen taking delivery of the
product from smugglers.
A
driver simply known as Taiwo, who was exchanging banters with his colleagues
for a successful trip, said his target was to make a lot of money before the
end of the season.
“I run three trips before
morning breaks and two in the day time if the road is good. The security
officers are there but we still find our way unless one is a new person on the
route,’’ Taiwo said.
Mrs
Celine Ukachi, a rice seller at the Navy Gate Rice Market, said, “we are used
to selling the Cotonou rice because it is easy to get than the local ones. “If
we see the local ones, we sell together with the Cotonou one so that everybody
who wants anyone can buy,’’ Ukachi said.
The trader also
claimed she had been in the business for four years.
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