The House of Representatives yesterday resolved to probe the alleged violation of rice import quotas assigned the Stallion Group and other companies under the new Federal Government rice policy. The purpose of the investigation, among other things, is to determine the approved quota to each of the concerned companies, as well as the excess importation in metric tonnes and the amount of money the defaulting companies are owing the Federal Government. The probe panel is to recommend appropriate sanctions against the firms even as it is expected to suggest ways of recovering the monies owed the Federal Government. The committee has three weeks to carry out the assignment. Moving the motion, Simon Arabo submitted that the effort of government on the new rice policy, intended to encourage local rice production with a view to ensuring self-sufficiency in that area by 2016, was being frustrated by lack of compliance with the guidelines issued by the government through its Ministry of Agriculture. He claimed that, "Stallion Group, Popular Foods and Olam Nigeria Limited, in collusion with their foreign investors, have imported rice exceeding their approved quotas and thus owe the Federal Government about N28.3 billion in import duties." The lawmaker disclosed that Stallion Group and Popular Foods, who he claimed were owing the Federal Government a combined sum of N15 billion have gone ahead to import another 85,000 metric tonnes of rice into Nigeria. As stated by him, "the actions of these companies are capable of scuttling the nation's self-sufficiency in rice production, an act which denies the Federal Government the needed revenue (from) import duties."
