Stallion, Olam owe Nigeria N44bn import duties – Senate

 

The Senate has disclosed that two foreign companies involved in rice importation into Nigeria, Stallion Group and Olam International owe the country N44 billion as import duties.

Specifically, the Senate said the two companies flouted the quota given to them to import 157,000 metric tons of rice since May 2014, saying the two imported 457,000 metric tons in excess of the required quota.

Senate ad-hoc Committee on Rice Waivers probing the abuse of rice waivers policy in the country made the revelation Monday, when the two companies appeared before it.

While demanding that the money be paid into the Federation Account, chairman of the committee, Adamu Aliero, said Nigeria would not fold its hands and watch the huge debt swept under the carpet.

Aliero further disclosed that the companies imported rice into the country without paying waivers, off-loaded them into their warehouses and refused to pay required duties when asked by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

According to him, while Stallion Group was accosted by the NCS to demand for the money, the company opted to drag NCS to the court.

“There is no way the government will ignore this kind of money. We have to ensure that this money is collected and deposited into the Federation Account,” Aliero said.

In his defence, Harpreet Singh, executive director of Stallion Group, claimed that its mission in Nigeria was to ensure that the country was self-sufficient in rice production and equally ensure that the nation was saved from scarcity of the product.

He also claimed that Nigerian borders were porous, adding that former President Goodluck Jonathan granted the approval on fiscal policy on rice production on May 26, 2014.

According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture opted to flout the tenets of the policy by giving quotas to “non-existing millers and investors who have no connection with the policy while existing investors were left blind.”

He claimed that Stallion Group’s investments in Nigeria were not giving jobs to foreigners but to Nigerians, saying his company had lost millions of naira to activities of smugglers as a result of porous borders.

On its part, Olam, which claimed that it had the largest rice farm in Africa and that it had been operating in Nigeria for the past two decades, submitted that given its long period of business operations in Nigeria, the company would not consider short-changing the nation.

Olam’s representative, Ade Adefeko, said the company was seeking a legal opinion on the matter, saying whatever counsel it was given, would be adhered to.