The aphorism “not all that glitters is gold” resonates loudly in rice markets, the place what turns out like top class detail continuously conceals a internet of deceit. CHIJIOKE IREMEKA finds that underneath the shiny luggage and inviting labels, buyers, pushed through the entice of upper earnings, exploit unsuspecting patrons through buying in the neighborhood grown rice from farmers, de-stoning and sharpening it to perfection—handiest to repackage and promote it the use of overseas emblem labels
For months, Asika Offor stored diligently, counting each and every naira with the hope of in the end buying a bag of top class overseas rice for her nation.
The mum of 5 used to be progressive to book the most efficient detail for her family, particularly as costs saved hovering and the price of dwelling biting tougher.
A pal had enthusiastically beneficial a selected Indian parboiled rice, noting that one in every of its distinctive qualities used to be that the grains swelled fantastically when cooked.
Satisfied, Offor eager her center on it, assured that her hard earned financial savings could be smartly spent.
When the hour in the end arrived, she move ahead from her house in Aguda, Surulere Native Govt Section of Lagos Circumstance, for the bustling Alaba Suru Marketplace alongside the Orile-Mile 2 Limited-access highway.
She walked with a useful gait, believing she used to be making the best selection in the case of emblem.
However unknown to the hardworking type dressmaker, the marketplace had its proportion of unscrupulous buyers mendacity in look ahead to unsuspecting patrons like her.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that such buyers focus on deceiving consumers through cleverly repackaging in the neighborhood grown rice in branded top class overseas luggage.
Offor’s pleasure briefly became to dismay When she came back house, handiest to find that the bag of rice she had bought for a staggering N101,000 used to be now not the top class Indian emblem she had stored for.
“I felt like crying,” she recounted, her expression tinged with frustration and feel sorry about. “What I purchased wasn’t what I had deliberate for. I sought after rice that swells and isn’t marshy later cooking. My pal beneficial two explicit manufacturers, however the ones criminals at Alaba Suru tricked me.
“The one I wanted has short grains, just like the locally grown rice, so I couldn’t tell the difference immediately. It wasn’t until I got home and my friend pointed out the difference that I realised I had been cheated. If I had known, I would have gone with someone who understands the market better.”
The betrayal stung deeply, particularly as she had depended on the buyers and invested her hard earned cash.
Her revel in sheds sunny at the emerging pattern of rice manipulation in Nigerian markets, the place buyers exploit customers’ want for top class imports to produce cheating earnings.
Saturday PUNCH, in its bid to resolve the actions of rice manipulators at Alaba Rago, Alaba Suru, Daleko markets, and Abakaliki Rice Mill in Ebonyi Circumstance, exposed a demanding trend.
The call for for fine quality overseas rice isn’t just pushed through the hunt for higher style, but in addition as a condition image.
Exploiting this call for, some buyers now deceptively re-bag in the neighborhood grown rice in overseas packaging to get upper costs from customers.
For 48-year-old Lizzy Amadi, the overjoyed Xmas season became sour when her daughter returned house with native rice packaged as one of the crucial extremely demanded overseas manufacturers.
She had painstakingly stored cash via day-to-day contributions to shop for part a bag of rice, to bring to amusement the monetary pressure of buying in petite amounts on her boulevard.
In most cases, she purchased rice through the derica cup, a neighborhood unit of dimension. Despite the fact that inexpensive within the quick time period, this added as much as a considerable quantity when bought over past.
As Christmas approached, the lady, who teaches at a number one faculty in Isolo, resolved to fracture the cycle through creating a bulk acquire.
Alternatively, with the flurry of festive arrangements, together with meal making plans, purchasing for youngsters’s garments, and making preparations for a memorable birthday celebration, she entrusted the duty of shopping for rice from Daleko Marketplace in Mushin to her eldest daughter.
She specifically demanded a prevalent overseas rice emblem Cap Rice, imported from Thailand, identified for its affordability and availability in 50kg, 25kg, 10kg, and 5kg amounts.
Unknown to Amadi, it had additionally grow to be some of the counterfeited manufacturers out there, along the Tomato emblem.
Recounting her unhappiness, Amadi shared, “I sent my daughter to Daleko Market to buy a half bag of Cap Rice. She bought it, and we set it aside for Christmas. On December 25, while parboiling the rice, I noticed a strange smell. The grains weren’t as long as they should be and had more starch than usual. The rice didn’t swell up properly, and the texture felt off.”
It used to be handiest upon nearer inspection that she realised the tough fact—her daughter were bought in the neighborhood produced rice deceptively packaged as Cap Rice.
“If I had noticed it the same day, I would have returned it,” she lamented, the betrayal stinging deeply.
For a widow who had labored tirelessly to put aside cash for a detail acquire, the revel in used to be now not simply disappointing however emotionally draining.
Proficient native rice as top class emblem
All through the Xmas season, Amara Ekeh won what first of all looked to be a considerate reward—a 5kg bag of Cap Rice.
Alternatively, her pleasure used to be short-lived as soon as she cooked the rice – it became out to be in the neighborhood grown rice deceptively packaged as a overseas emblem.
“Though it didn’t have an odour, it was sticking together,” she recounted.
Amara famous that this wasn’t the kind of rice in most cases given as a present.
“Anyway, I wouldn’t blame the giver because she might not have realised it was local rice in a Cap Rice bag. It’s the kind of rice often used by those who cannot afford the more expensive branded versions, but I still appreciated it as a gift,” she quipped.
Superior infraction
Rice re-bagging—the observe of repackaging substandard rice in premium-branded luggage to misinform customers into believing they’re buying fine quality grains—isn’t unutilized in Nigeria.
Alternatively, an alarming pattern is rising the place in the neighborhood produced rice is bagged underneath overseas emblem labels, deceiving patrons and compromising meals detail.
Prior to now, what used to be identified used to be the re-bagging of unpopular rice in top class manufacturers’ luggage on the market to unwary consumers.
Investigations through Saturday PUNCH confirmed that the chronic call for for overseas rice, particularly from Thailand and Bharat, is pushed through the belief that imported grains are admirable.
Many Nigerians laborer overseas rice with a cleaner look, velvety grains, and a extra interesting style and texture in comparison to native sorts, which some imagine starchy and not more fluffy.
Moreover, the aroma of native rice, continuously perceived as much less delightful in comparison to the mischievous perfume of imported sorts, additional fuels this desire.
Exploiting those biases, some buyers repackage native rice into foreign-labelled luggage, inflating costs and deceiving customers for monetary achieve.
The lingering, unfortunate aroma continuously clings to a couple in the neighborhood produced rice. Agro professionals defined that is because of the normal post-harvest dealing with procedure.
In contrast to imported rice, which undergoes rigorous cleansing, drying and sharpening, native rice might soak up moisture or form a little fermented odour all through storagefacility, particularly when right kind drying and storagefacility situations are disregarded.
This factor lately got here to sunny as soon as once more when the Nationwide Company for Meals and Drug Management and Keep watch over confiscated 79 luggage of counterfeit ‘Tomato Rice’ all through an operation in Maiduguri, Borno Circumstance.
The regulatory frame evident that Triovee Restricted were illegally packaging uncooked rice into unauthorised branded luggage at their facility on Ahmadu Bello Means.
“A total of 79 unsealed 50kg bags of rice were placed on hold due to this violation,” NAFDAC said, including that the faux branded rice, valued at roughly N5,135,000, used to be seized and the corporate penalised in response to NAFDAC’s rules.
Arise of interior smuggling
This counterfeit rice scandal sheds sunny on a broader factor troubling Nigeria’s rice marketplace. Each the All Farmers Affiliation of Nigeria and the Rice Farmers Affiliation of Nigeria have raised alarms over the unethical observe of packaging in the neighborhood grown rice in foreign-branded luggage to fetch upper earnings.
The Deputy Chairman of AFAN, Lagos Circumstance bankruptcy, Shakin Agbayewa, described the observe as “internal smuggling” and referred to as for better honesty amongst native manufacturers.
“We face a serious issue where local rice cultivators package home-grown rice in foreign bags to sell at higher prices. Nigeria consumes around 6.5 to seven million metric tonnes of rice annually, yet our local production only covers 57 per cent, leaving a 43 per cent shortfall,” he stated. “With integrity, we can meet domestic rice demands more effectively.”
A stunning marketplace fact
All through a contemporary investigative talk over with to markets notorious for misleading practices, Saturday PUNCH exposed surprising forms hired through buyers to take advantage of unsuspecting customers.
On the center of the bustling Alaba Rago Marketplace within the Ojo Native Govt Section of Lagos Circumstance, the wind used to be thick with the hum of job as rice adulteration took centre level. Younger boys, with practised precision, labored diligently, blending and repackaging native rice into branded overseas rice luggage. The scene used to be chaotic but organised, with boys expertly slitting unmistakable rice luggage and the use of funnels to scrupulously pour the in the neighborhood sourced grains into sacks boldly branded as Cap Rice.
Close by, 5 luggage, already stuffed with native rice, sat ready to be sealed, day two younger males and a girl joined the meeting form, shifting impulsively to store the operation operating. On the front to the marketplace, imposing tons of unfilled branded luggage, emblazoned with names like Royal Stallion, Cap Rice, Daybreak, and Tomato, had been brazenly displayed on the market. Those luggage served because the misleading completion, enabling the rebagging procedure that became native rice into ‘premium’ overseas manufacturers.
Saturday PUNCH exposed that the number of branding depended completely on marketplace call for. Investors would make a choice the bag of a prevalent emblem, right away remodeling the belief—and worth—of the contents.
When approached, a tender colleague named Musa Adamu admitted, “We’re only following our boss’s instructions. It’s sold at the same price as the real foreign rice.” His candour, on the other hand, used to be short-lived as a assistant impulsively intervened, signalling the clandestine nature in their operations.
Alarmingly, those actions opened up in extensive sunlight, proper alongside the roadside, and not using a interference from regulatory our bodies like NAFDAC.
Including every other layer to the scheme, a middle-aged guy, armed with a bag-sealing system, charged between N100 and N200 in keeping with bag to seal the rebranded programs. The deception prolonged past mere rebagging. Investors who won complete 50kg luggage from Cotonou discreetly got rid of a portion—continuously a part or complete painter dimension—ahead of sealing the luggage. This manipulation allowed them to manufacture an too much bag for each and every 9 bought, successfully boosting their earnings day shortchanging customers.
The scene at Alaba Rago Marketplace painted a stark image of exploitation, the place cash in reigned preferrred, and transparency used to be sacrificed, retirement unsuspecting customers on the oblivion of unscrupulous buyers.
Daleko marketplace’s organised cartel
At Daleko Rice Marketplace in Mushin, Lagos, the wind buzzed with a extra refined but clandestine operation as a cartel orchestrated rice adulteration with important precision.
At the back of the doorways of a locked store, Fortunate Peters presided over a destoning system, processing native rice and rebagging it into foreign-branded sacks.
Regardless of missing a sharpening system, Peters and his workforce labored successfully, destoning and packaging rice for shoppers who wanted to conceal in the neighborhood grown grains as top class imports. Our reporter, posing as a possible rice dealer, received get entry to to the internal workings of this tightly opaque operation, the place each and every attribute of the method used to be meticulously deliberate.
Throughout the store, Mohammed Shalalai, a depended on colleague, defined their choices.
“We can destone and bag rice either here or at your place,” he defined. “For each 50kg bag, the service costs N2,500. You can buy any branded bag you prefer, and we’ll package the rice for you. If you want, we can even reduce the content slightly to maximise your profit.”
Shalalai went directly to fracture ailing the measurements: “A standard 50kg bag contains 64 derica cups, which equals 12 painters. We can reduce it to 11 and a half painters or keep it full, depending on what you want.”
When requested in regards to the branding, he chuckled and evident the reality in the back of the deception: “It’s whatever name is on the bag you buy. For example, those local rice bags over there were sourced from the North and rebagged as ‘Tomato Rice.’”
Protecting their practices, Peters argued that client personal tastes spot on the deception.
“People don’t want local rice anymore—not because it’s bad, but because they want to show off. So we make the brands they desire available by repackaging good-quality local rice from the North,” he said with a shrug.
The rebranded rice, now masquerading as a overseas product, fetched up to N95,000 in keeping with 50kg bag.
Peters admitted that costs various in line with patrons’ negotiation abilities however highlighted the numerous markup in comparison to the N50,000 or N60,000 in most cases charged for in the neighborhood grown rice.
“Normally, we sell local rice for N50,000 or N60,000, so it depends on how much you buy and how much profit you want to make,” Peters added, unabashedly revealing the profit-driven mindset fuelling the operation.
Within Abakaliki’s rice generators
Within the center of the Abakaliki rice marketplace in Ebonyi Circumstance, Agnes Egwu stood surrounded through imposing sacks of freshly milled grains, her resonance a mix of delight and fear.
“It’s the traders, not the farmers, who drive this deceptive practice,” she started, gesturing on the bustling job round her.
The wind used to be stuffed with the earthy aroma of parboiled rice, mingled with the rhythmic hum of milling machines.
“Farmers do the hard work—growing, harvesting, parboiling, and drying the rice before sending it to the mill for dehusking,” Egwu defined.
She spoke with the authority of any individual who had witnessed the rice progress from ground to marketplace numerous occasions.
“At that point, the traders take over, determining the fate of the grains. Based on the quality, they decide whether to destone and polish it or go a step further by removing black spots to enhance its appearance.”
Abakaliki, identified for its outstanding rice sorts, boasts top class grains like Accumulation and CP. Those are beloved for his or her blank, spot-free end.
As Egwu famous, “Once polished, these grains look so pristine they can easily be mistaken for imported rice.”
Pointing to a division of the marketplace the place buyers labored with mechanical precision, Egwu persisted, “In some areas, the rice is meticulously destoned, polished, and stripped of any imperfections. The moment it gleams, it’s repackaged as ‘foreign’ rice and sold at a premium.”
In contrast to many markets, rice in Abakaliki isn’t bought through the kilogramme however through the bushel, a standard unit more or less equivalent to 8 gallons.
Two bushels, she defined, weigh about 44 kilogrammes. Investors continuously purchase rice in bulk to produce up for the inevitable lot loss all through the destoning procedure. This sharp transformation of native rice into ‘foreign’ rice has created a successful, albeit cheating, area of interest out there.
Egwu’s expression softened as she described the intrinsic qualities of Abakaliki’s in the neighborhood grown rice. “When you boil it, the rice turns a brilliant white with an aroma that’s simply delightful. It’s what makes the Mass and CP varieties so special—long grains, highly sought after, and often mistaken for premium foreign rice that so many consumers crave.”
However her pitch became sombre as she addressed the deeper factor. “The saddest part is that the farmers who cultivate these exceptional grains rarely reap the rewards of their labour. They do all the hard work, but it’s the traders who cash in on the profits,” she stated, shaking her head.
Her phrases painted a bright image of a marketplace the place good looks is skin-deep, and the toil of the farmers who convey while to those grains is going disregarded amidst the glittering façade of rebranded overseas rice.
Now not just right for the financial system – LASCOPA
When approached for insights at the demanding situations plaguing Nigeria’s rice business and their financial implications, the Basic Supervisor of the Lagos Circumstance Client Coverage Company, Afolabi Solebo, voiced deep fear over the alarming pattern of repackaging in the neighborhood grown rice in foreign-branded luggage and misleadingly advertising it as imported rice.
He didn’t mince phrases as he condemned the observe, describing it as each fraudulent and harmful. “This is outright deception,” he said firmly.
“Consumers are being misled into purchasing a product that is entirely different from what they believe they are paying for. Beyond defrauding buyers, this trend also poses a significant threat to the economy, as it undermines the growth and competitiveness of the local rice industry.”
He emphasized that such cheating practices now not handiest erode client believe but in addition block the potential for native farmers and millers, whose efforts are overshadowed through the call for for falsely labelled imported rice.
“We cannot afford to ignore this issue; it is a setback for both our agricultural sector and our broader economic aspirations,” Solebo concluded.
When contacted, the Resident Media Advisor for NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola, reiterated the company’s confident loyalty to safeguarding Nigerians’ condition and making sure the integrity of consumable merchandise. He firmly condemned the observe of repackaging in the neighborhood grown rice in foreign-branded luggage, labelling it a fraudulent function that exploits customers and undermines the financial system.
“Traders engaging in this deceitful activity must be apprehended and treated as fraudsters,” Akintola declared. “They are not only deceiving innocent Nigerians but also stealing their hard-earned money. There is no hiding place for them; we are coming after all those practicing this deception.”
Akintola additional confident that NAFDAC is actively monitoring markets the place such malpractice happens, with plans to safeguard the perpetrators are delivered to justice. “We have taken action in Abuja and Nasarawa State, and we will do the same in Lagos and Ebonyi. I won’t give them a lead, but we have people everywhere, and we will find them,” he stated.
Highlighting the wider implications, Akintola famous that the observe is damaging to the financial system and adverse to the expansion of native manufacturers. “This is damaging and unacceptable. It’s fraud, deception, and a crime. We should not be engaging in this practice,” he emphasized.
He concluded with a robust ultimatum to these concerned within the illicit job: “NAFDAC is working tirelessly to dismantle these syndicates. I advise people to stop this practice because we will come after them. It’s time for everyone to unite with the government and NAFDAC to sanitise the country.”