The much-hyped Lagos Rice is no longer seen in the markets and the Lagos State government has blamed the disappearance on individuals who re-bag the commodity for sale as foreign rice.
According to the Lagos State commissioner for information and strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, saboteurs go to the Rice Mill in Imota near Ikorodu Lagos to buy in bulk, preventing the commodity to get to the markets.
“There are saboteurs. The rice coming in from the Rice Mill in Imota, you would see some people going to re-bag them and put foreign name on such bags and then take them out of Lagos,” Omotosho said in an interview with Mainland FM
“That’s why it is very difficult to see the rice as much as we would have loved to see them.”
Besides he added that inadequate paddies in the country are limiting the two million metric tonnes per hour Lagos Rice Mill to produce as much rice for local consumption. The Rice Mill dubbed as the third largest in the world has the capacity to produce 2.5m bags of 50kg rice annually and generate 250,000 direct and indirect jobs. It was commissioned by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
“In every part of Nigeria, there are small, small mills and because of the change in weather condition and so many other things, we do not have enough paddies,” he said.
