Saraki, spoke at an hearing organized by the Senate
Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs at the National Assembly,.
Saraki, according to a statement by his Chief Press
Secretary, Sanni Onogu, insisted that unless the monster of smuggling is tamed,
efforts being made to diversify the economy from oil would not yield expected
results.
He called on the Committee and all the stakeholders present
at the hearing to come up with relevant recommendations on the way forward to
save the nation’s farmers, small scale industries and financial institutions
from impending crisis.
He said: “My personal presence here this morning along with
the leader of the Senate is to make a point of the importance that this senate
places on this subject matter.
“For me personally, it is my view that the singular greatest
threat to our economy is this issue of smuggling. What is militating against
the success of our government is this issue of smuggling.
“The singular greatest threat to the delivery of the
promises made by President Muhammadu Buhari on the diversification of the
economy is this issue of smuggling.
“The level of smuggling that we are seeing cannot continue
because they will definitely rubbish all the policies of government if allowed
to go on. I am saying that with all sincerity and all level of responsibility
and I tell you why. Today, the greatest threat to small holder farmers is
smuggling.
“Today, rice farmers who have gone to take loans either from
the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) or from commercial banks are being threatened
by rice coming in from across the borders at highly subsidized rate.
“The meaning of that is that the imported rice will always
be cheaper than those produced by our local farmers. A time will come, if we do
not do anything, that these farmers will not be able to pay their loans to the
banks and this will result in serious crisis.
“The banks that have given loans to these farmers, will also
have crisis in their hands. And for the Central Banks that has intervened with
billions of Naira again will not be able to recoup their money.
“The processors who have invested in rice mills at the
beginning of this administration will also be threatened if we do not address
the issue of rice smuggling.”
Saraki also stated that if smuggling is not stopped, the
over $7 billion invested by the government in the last 10 years to stimulate
local production will go to waste.
He said: “As a country we have invested over $7billion over
the last 10 years in stimulating local production.
“If we do not address the area of smuggling, this investment
will go to waste. This is the severity of the issue before us today.
“Any institution, whether it is the National Assembly or any
other one, in order to support the success of our President, we must join to
stop smuggling, without it, we should just forget the issue of diversification
or increased agricultural production.
“We will only pay lip service to issue of agricultural
production if we do not address the issue of smuggling and that is why I made
it a point to come here personally to drive this message.
“I am confident that with the caliber of members of this
Committee and the stakeholders here, that we will use this opportunity to come
out with robust solutions on the way forward.”
Saraki insisted that smugglers must be stopped to prevent
them from further sabotaging the economy.
He said: “There is no government, any serious government,
that will render itself helpless because we must know the individuals who are
doing this smuggling. We must be able to know who they are. Is it that they are
larger and bigger than government?
“Is it that we cannot stop them? Or is it that we don’t want
to stop them? Or is that we lack the competence to stop them? These are the
questions that we put before us today. We must stop them. Customs must do what
it takes to stop smuggling.
“These are the largest economic saboteurs that are ruining
our economy. We must be able to identify them. They must be made to realize
that we are serious about this issue.
“We must be able to sanction officers who are responsible
for this and we must be able to reward officers who prevent the issue of
smuggling. We want this Committee to sit down for the length of days of public
hearing and ask ourselves what is the way forward.
“I can assure you that our responsibility as a Senate is to
ensure that whatever recommendations are made by this Committee we have to send
them back to the executive because as I said this matter is the singular
greatest threat to our economy and to this government.”
Saraki noted that while Nigeria must continue to respect
international treaties, it cannot afford to do so at the detriment of its
economy.
He said: “There are other issues, of course, that have to do
with the ECOWAS treaties and agreements.
“Yes, we are part of ECOWAS. Yes, we want to develop ECOWAS, but no serious
country will allow anything that will ruin its economy at the benefit of its
neighboring countries.
“We must be able to do what is right. So on this note, all
hands must be on deck to ensure that we address this problem squarely. I assure
you of the greatest support of this Senate.”
By Wale Odunsi
