Fear grips Lagos rice sellers over customs’ raid on Ogun traders

Rice sellers in Alaba Rago market in the Ojo local government area of Lagos state are currently panicking over the raid of a rice garage in Sango Ota, Ogun state, by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Bags of rice and kegs of groundnut oil were seized by the customs officials who stormed the market on Tuesday night.

But speaking with NAN on Thursday, some traders at Alaba Rago said customs officers ought to restrict their operations to the borders, and not go into the markets to harass sellers.

“We are sellers and not smugglers,” Titilope Dauda, said

Dauda moved 95 bags of rice from a warehouse to an unknown depot for fear of the bags being impounded.

“We source our products from the people who go to Seme to buy; we do not have anything to do with going to the border,” she said.

“Customs should restrict their onslaught to the entry points as coming into the markets will mean dispossessing us of our capital while the main culprits go free.”

Haruna Dogo, another seller, said it was wrong for the operatives to invade the garage at night.

“If they (customs officials) know that there is nothing shady in their act, they should come during the day time when everybody is there,” Dogo said.

Gab Amadi, a rice transporter, said he did not see anything illegal in what the sellers were doing to have warranted raids, not to talk of a night raid.

“What they are selling is a staple food in Nigeria and most of them are getting their products from intermediaries,” he said.

“Therefore, if there is anything fishy in the trade, it is the main source of the product that the customs should attack and not these daily income earners.”

In 2016, the federal government banned importation of rice through the land borders