Why rice importation remains banned in Ebonyi —Information commissioner

The need to protect the health of the people of Ebonyi State and shield the local business environment from “foreign business invasion,” has been identified as  one of the reasons responsible for the state government’s ban on imported  rice into the state.

Disclosing this in an exclusive interview during a courtesy visit to the  Nigerian Tribune office, in Lagos, on Wednesday,  the  state Commissioner for Information, Senator Emmanuel Onwe, stated that the ban had become imperative as a result of rumours doing the rounds then about the existence of poisonous foreign rice within and outside the state.

He added that what the state government had done was to ensure that the citizens of the state were not exposed to health hazards the consumption of such ‘poisonous’ foreign rice might constitute, adding that such ban, however, excluded rice produced within the country.

Senator Onwe argued that with the necessary support, the state had that capacity to meet the rice consumption of states in the South-South and South-East.

According to him, one of the priorities of the state government was to achieve total diversification of the economy through intensive agricultural projects, especially rice production, noting that one of the advantages of the state’s grown rice was its naturalness; since it required less fertiliser to cultivate, compared with the imported ones.

He, however, expressed regrets at the activities of some unscrupulous merchants that re-bag rice produced within the state and tag it ‘Thailand,’  so as to sell at exorbitant prices.

“We have been making some in-roads in terms of rice production and marketing of such items to the public, both within the state and outside.

“But the challenge we are currently having is that of the unscrupulous elements that rebag this rice and sell at exorbitant prices.

“I think they are able to achieve this because of the erroneous belief of Nigerians that foreign goods are always better than the local ones.

“But that is not true. Rice produced in the state is never at any time inferior to imported rice because it is more proteineous and has less fertiliser in the process of cultivation,” he stated.