The Federal Government coughed out a whopping N672.5Million as demurrage and Customs duty on 6,779 metric tonnes of rice donated by the Chinese government for distribution to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North East.
While the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) paid a whopping sum of N400 million as demurrage, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture paid another sum of N272.5Million as duty to clear the rice.
According to the Director General of the agency; Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja, the total value of the imported rice is N414 million.
Documents submitted to the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness by the Ministry of Finance dated July 20, 2017, indicate the figure of N400 million and N272.5Million respectively as demurrage and duty do not include the cost of transporting the rice from the ports to the warehouses of the agency.
The documents further revealed that about half of the goods are still at the ports accumulating more demurrage.
The House of Representatives Committee has consequently expressed dismay over the inefficient handling of the Chinese rice donations to internally displaced persons in the North East.
The lawmakers were reacting to the presentations made by government agencies during its investigative hearing on breach of public trust by the National Emergency Management Agency last Wednesday.
Also, while making a presentation before the committee, representative of the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Assistant Comptroller General Ekekezie Kaycee said three batches of the Chinese rice donation arrived at the Nigerian port on the 9th of May, 15th August and 11th September 2017 respectively.
She added that the value of the rice, which came in 151 containers in total, as stated on the Bill of Lading are : 7, 405, 222 Million Yuan, 9, 219, 650 Million Yuan and 11, 247, 973 Million Yuan, at an exchange rate of N46.2450 Naira to one Yuan.
Altogether, she informed the committee that 3, 779 metric tonnes of the rice have been cleared, leaving a balance of 3000 metric tonnes. She identified the two companies that did the clearing as Global View Nig Ltd and Baltic Air and Maritime Services.
Similarly, the representative of the minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Iloma Simon, said that the Ministry procured waivers for the rice from the Ministry of Finance at three separate times when the goods arrived at the port. His Agriculture ministry counterpart said, in his own summary, that the ministry paid for the clearing of the rice and provided warehouses for storage, but is yet to receive any consignment as at today.
In his submission, the director general of NEMA, Engr Mustapha Maihaja, said the agency could only start clearing when it received the bill of lading six months later.
He added that due to the emergency situation, the agency relied on section 43 of its establishment Act and engaged Global View Logistics and Baltic Air and Maritime Services without following due process on procurement. The first clearance was done in January 2018. He also added that the 110 containers of rice cleared have been taken to Borno and Yola.
This disclosure enraged the lawmakers who were angry that the poor handling of the clearance of the rice led to a cost of N400 million taxpayers’ money on payment for demurrage.
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