FCCPC seals shops in Abuja market for ‘selling local rice as foreign brands’

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has raided and sealed several shops in Utako market, Abuja, for rebagging local rice into foreign brands.

Boladale Adeyinka, director of the surveillance and investigations department of FCCPC, during the raid in Utako market on Monday, said the operation was based on intelligence received by the commission.

According to NAN, the commission sealed at least five wholesale shops stocked with bags of rice and summoned the shop owners to the FCCPC for further investigation.

Adeyinka said the information showed that traders were rebagging locally produced rice in foreign-branded bags and selling them at inflated prices as imported rice.

She described the act as exploitative, noting that it is against consumers’ economic interests.

The director added that the commission would confiscate the products and trace their origins to identify those responsible for the repackaging and branding.

”We are carrying out this operation to confirm and validate the intelligence that local rice, our own rice is being packaged in foreign brands and sold as foreign rice,” Adeyinka said.

”And because the appetite of Nigerians are for foreign brands which are no longer in the market, the market cartels are now going about rebagging the local rice and selling them as foreign rice.

”That is exploitative and against consumer economic interests.

”As a matter of fact, for Mama Gold, as far as 2015, they stopped all their export.

”This is 2025, and yet, like you heard from the testimony of the trader, he is aware that they don’t sell those sizes anymore.”

‘TRADERS FOUND GUILTY WILL BE SANCTIONED’

Adeyinka said traders found guilty would be subjected to administrative sanctions and fines in accordance with the FCCP Act.

”They will follow due process based on the infractions,” she added.

The director also advised consumers who prefer foreign rice to make their purchases from importers or distributors to guarantee product quality.

Some of the affected traders claimed ignorance regarding the rebagging of the rice.

One of them, Emmanuel Nneji, said he was unaware that Stallion Company had ceased production of the rice in question for a long time.

Nneji explained that he sourced his goods from suppliers in Kaduna and Kano.

”If there had been a publication that says that this particular product is no more in the market, I would not have bought it because I do not want to buy goods and at the end of everything, I will lose it,” he said.

”So what am begging is that even if they say I should make sure that I return it back, that tomorrow they are coming, and they don’t want to find it, I will do it.”

Another trader, who chose to remain anonymous, admitted to purchasing rebagged Stallion rice due to its high demand among customers.

”I buy the rice because people ask of it a lot but I still sell the 10kg for N18,000 and not the normal N25,000 to N28,000 which the foreign brand is sold,” he said.

Also, Alex Igwemma, secretary of the Utako Market Traders Association, expressed displeasure over the commission’s unannounced raid, noting that market officials were not informed beforehand.

Igwemma acknowledged that traders should have been aware that the product was no longer in circulation and urged them to prioritise the sale of quality goods in the market.