The 2016 Christma/2017 new year rush for rice, the most staple food on the nations dining table is over, but how many can recall the past? Nigerians in their late forties and those above that age can – Look back, or jog their memory tapes, and remember the rice Armada of the 1980’s during the Shagari years when Umaru Dikko, Federal Minister of Commerce and Industry made rice an almighty commodity in this country.
It was a time new billionaires were made in the country. The commodity came with different labels and different names. It was the era of massive importation of rice from Thailand and all parts of the globe when different brands of rice flooded the country through rice importation and deals. The long and short grains, the parboiled and underboiled, the polished and unpolished rice, Shagari rice, Dikko rice etc.
So much noise was made about rice in a country noted for its poverty levels and its status of under development. It was such that one cartoonist made a satirical caricature of the country drawing a bag of rice being dragged away with rope (presumably) from a warehouse or a distribution center by a cunny tortoise.
It was a picture of how those in authority vanished rice allocations meant for the masses.
Over three decades after this era a new scenario is appearing on the horizon. Rice has became such a powerful foodstuff that its price has shot up by over 200% in four years. A bag of normal (average 50kg) rice that sold at between six thousand Naira (N6,000) and nine thousand Naira (N9,000) sold at twenty thousand naira (N20,000) and above. The federal government banned its importation making it a smuggled commodity across our porous borders. Its importance and significance as a staple food on the table of the average Nigerian is profound.
A Nigerian was recently highlighted when in the heat of the current recession in a the country a father sold two of his children for two bags of rice ostensibly to survive hunger and anger in the land while some smugglers were caught conveying some bags of rice in a casket (coffin) with ambulance from across the Benin Republic border in order to evade customs checks.
Because about 90% of Nigerian women take rice as their most favourite food while rice is the most stable and most predominantly available food on the tables in most Nigerian homes, it has become a very important commodity which politicians use as a weapon of warfare during elections.
We have heard of politicians who shared bags of rice and beans to individuals and groups in addition to recharge cards and cash to woo voters. Our politicians distribute all kinds of food items during election campaigns and voting periods including hungry man and angry man indomie”, vegetable oil, bar soaps etc.
The latest end of the year news in 2016 was from the South East and the South West, two regions where Christmas and New Year festivities are hotly celebrated. From Ebonyi State in the South East and Lagos State in South West came two sets of cheery news. While Lagos State is made available the harvest of a wonderful partnership between it and Kebbi State in the North, the Ebonyi State government in the East is stamping the doctrine of necessity and backward integration and indigenization of home grown rice to its citizens.
We hear that an agric partnership which Lagos and Kebbi States struck last year yielded abundant rice which were sold at a highly subsidized rate to Lagosians ahead of the 2016 Christmas season.
According to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode the Lagos/Kebbi rice aka (LAKE RICE) was sold at between N2,500 and N12,000 per 10kg to 50kg bag and was made available in all the fifty seven (57) council areas of the State for accessibility to the grassroots.
It is not certain what magic and tricks or what oracles and biometric applications precautions were taken to avert frauds and prevent the rich and highly placed government functionaries from hijacking this benevolent idea and make millionaires and billionaires out of the scheme. People asked if the state adopted balloting system or quota system of allocation or queue method of first come, first served? Whatever method, the Nigerian is good at circumventing each directive and cutting difficult corners to rubbish good intentions and genuine efforts.
Some argued that rolling off the distribution as from December 15 (ten days to Christmas) meant there will be a mad rush. The centers of distribution will turn into war zones in the present state of recession, depression and frustration. There is no doubt that it was to be a do or die affair for many especially the jobless youths, touts and cultists all over the state. Surprisingly Ambode’s tactics did the magic. The unimaginable happened. The distribution and sales went smoothly and there were no reports of stampede, of fighting or of fraudulent diversions of the essential commodity. Kudos to this brilliant governor.
But for how long will this Ambode’s (LAKE) rice be sustained or flow? Will its tap dry up after the Christmas/New Year or will it continue to be available? only time will tell.
In the South East, we commend Ebonyi State which has made it compulsory for its citizens to consume the local rice it produces. We heard that they have banned all forms of foreign rice (imported rice) including their sale in the open market.
Famous for the production of a variant (specie) of rice called Ofada which is highly nutritious, Ebonyi State governor Dave Umehi audaciously announced the ban of consumption and sale of imported rice in his state.
He said a task force will enforce this decision and compel any trader selling foreign rice to produce import documents and certification by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria including NAFADACs approval of safety for that quality of rice. These are measures to impose a culture of consumption and promotion of home grown rice. But the crucial question remains how can they prevent nocturnal sale of the foreign rice. How can they monitor what people eventually cook at home if the contraband rice is off the shelf. This government measure as good as it can only force further up the price of imported rice and make multi-millionaires of those who can successfully hide them away in bunkers or bullet proof warehouses.
Will contraveners of this government directive be jailed or stoned in this state? Will family members be bold and patriotic enough to obey government directive or report those who violate this directive? In a country where almost everyone has been compromised by corruption including lately the judges, will these austerity measures scale the hurdles?
By coincidence, the President Buhari who wanted to crate home Umaru Dukko from London to account for the Rice gate during Shagari’s regime is the one now presiding over rice issues in a country under recession. Only time will tell how many people will be frozen in cooling vans or boxed in iron containers for either sabotaging Ambode’s rice bonanza or disobey compulsory consumption of Home Grown Rice in Ebonyi State or flouting the ban on importation of rice in the country as ordered by the federal government.