Contaminated rice
The League of Maritime Editors and Publishers (LOMEP), a group of distinguished and seasoned journalists, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to immediately dismiss the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Colonel Hammed Ali (rtd) , for donating 920,000 bags of contaminated rice to the states in the South West ,as part of the palliatives, to cushion the effect of lock down , over the raging COVID- 19 pandemic.
The League said among those to be dismissed for betrayal of trust, negligence and attempted murder for donating contaminated and expired rice that are dangerous for human consumption, to different states, as palliatives, are Customs Controllers of Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Lagos, Ogun Command .
Beyond calling for the sack of the CG , the group equally demanded that the Customs Service must render an unreserved apology to Nigerians , for its ‘show of shame’ and for toying with the life of Nigerians adding that it will consider legal action, if Ali is not shown the way out for such show of shame and atrocities against the people of the South West.
In a ‘State of the Nation’ Statement signed by the President, Mr Kingsley Anaroke and Secretary General, Mr Francis Ugwoke, the group said Ali and his Customs Controllers treated the health of the people with total disregard with the distribution of the expired rice to the states, even when they were fully aware that the food items were poisonous.
The group recalled that Ali had himself on several occasions and during Press Briefings when seizures of foreign rice is exhibited ,described the grains as poisonous and had warned Nigerians from consuming them, because they have spent a minimum of five years in the silo before arriving the country.
According to the LOMEP ,most of the bags of rice that were given have been seized by the Customs many years ago, stored in its various warehouses ,and were later described , as having being contaminated.
Ali had actually told newsmen, “Harmful chemical must have been added to sustain the imported rice freshness while they have been rebagged , with a new date given as the production and expiry date, and that is what we consume here which causes diseases”.
The Group also recalled that the Customs under Ali’s leadership had equally donated the same poisonous rice to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North but were withdrawn later, adding that this was unbecoming of a highly placed public officer who claims to be in the forefront of the war against corruption.
Noting that Customs claimed that the grains were tested before they were given out, the League described, this as simply a volte face, fallacy and demanded evidence of such test from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Part of the statement reads, “We demand the sack of Customs CG and the Controllers of the Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Lagos, Ogun Commands for betrayal of trust, negligence and attempted murder for Willy nilly giving out contaminated and expired rice that are dangerous for human consumption as palliatives to the people.
Never mind that the five APC states, Lagos, Osun , Ekiti Ondo and Ogun have given conflicting reports on the rice, the truth of the matter is that they don’t want to speak up because of political reasons and patronage.
If the CG has said severally that foreign rice is not fit for human consumption, why must it then be distributed as palliative.? Is custom not aware how long the rice must have stayed in their warehouses and what Due Diligence did it carry out on the rice before releasing them to the States? Were they inspected and tested by NAFDAC?.
“ When did this foreign rice become okay for human consumption? Why can’t Ali’s Customs give Nigerians, Nigerian rice instead of foreign rice which he knows are poisonous? Can’t the Customs afford the local rice.
“Nigerians should ask the CG where he got his information first on the poisonous rice. Was it after it was distributed to IDPs which probably led to the stoppage. If so, why sending them to the West as COVID 19 palliatives, an action , which could be seen as ethnic sabotage.
‘’ There are also other pockets of unhealthy practices by Customs officers manning checkpoints where they use their own money to purchase cheap expired rice across the borders, which they present to their superiors at their commands as seizures in order to retain their “lucrative” positions”.
The group also disclosed that sources hinted it of another plot to donate 10 bad containers of tomato paste in Onne Customs as palliatives to the federal government, adding that the NCDC has a report on that.
It particularly commended the Oyo State government for speaking out on the state of the grains , and not dancing to political tunes by giving what was not good for human consumption to the people of the state.
