Stakeholders in the livestock s u b – sector across the country have said that Nigeria’s loss to smuggled frozen foods has risen from N1trillion as at the end of 2015 to over N2trillion by December 2016.
They said that the increase in the loss of revenue from smuggled frozen foods followed the worsening porosity of the nation’s international borders and alleged corrupt practices among officials of the Nigeria Customs Service. Some of the smuggled frozen foods include chicken, turkey, fish and gizzards.
The Poultry Association of Nigeria, however, blamed the Federal Government for the huge loss, saying that the poor implementation of the ban on the importation of frozen products and ignorance of consumers, who continue to patronise the banned products, led to the influx of the contranband.
The stakeholders, in a chat with our correspondent in Lagos, noted that losing such a huge amount to smuggled products was a bad omen for a country that claimed to be determined to revive the economy with agriculture.
A c c o r d i n g to PAN, “Since early 2000, the Federal Government had announced different measures to curb the activities of smugglers.
One of the measures is the mandate given to Nigerian Customs Services to protect the nation’s borders against smuggling of banned goods, especially food items. But owing to the porous borders coupled with alleged corruption among Customs officers, smuggled goods usually deluge the Nigerian market, among them are the frozen foods.”
PAN National President, Dr. Ayoola Oduntan, has bemoaned the havoc being wreaked on the poultry sub-sector in the country by smugglers. Oduntan said that many Nigerians were interested in poultry farming but lacked access to capital to actualise their dreams and urged the Federal Government and financial institutions to offer incentives such as low interest rate on loans and fixed assets to interested farmers in order to close the demand and supply gap in poultry products in the country.
He advised Nigerians to desist from eating imported poultry products, saying the chemical used in preserving them was the same used in embalming corpses and warned that it could cause cancer.
Oduntan said, “Locallyproduced turkeys or chickens are fresh; no preservatives are used. They are only refrigerated and kept in good sanitary conditions, because it is expected that within two or three days, they would be bought and consumed.”
The PAN boss added that to correct the ignorance-induced perception of consumers, government should create a more business-friendly environment for the operators of poultry industry to encourage and increase their capacity as well as save the over N2 trillion lost annually to neighbouring countries.
“Operators need incentives such as credit facilities with low interest rates and basic infrastructure to boost their capacities to close up the huge supply gap to meet the demand level. That in return will reduce the cost of production and price of the products. If that is not done, more local producers will shut down their firms and more Nigerians may be exposed to terminal diseases through the consumption of smuggled frozen poultry items,” Oduntan stressed.
