By Stephen Ubanna
Going by the arrangement that was said to have been put on ground by Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, and his Management team to Auction thousands of seized bags of foreign rice, 50 Kg each, that had been rebaggegd into 25Kg. each, at N10,00 each, including cartons of tomatoes, vegetable oil, Maggi, Macaroni, Spaghetti and local dried fish to Nigerians on the orders of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who incidentally was a former governor of Lagos state to cushion the economic hardship in the country, the Authorities never expected any trouble in the first leg of the exercise.
The massive turn out of Nigerians leading to stampede at the Customs Zonal office, Harvey road, Yaba, the nation’s Financial and Commercial Capital city where the exercise was kick started on Friday, February, 23, 2024,bear eloquent testimony to the situation of things in the country: hunger.
An witness account confirmed that security agencies personnel stationed at strategic locations at Yaba, the venue of the sales of the Court condemned food items could not contain the crowd forcing the Customs personnel to shot up to scare the buyers who were said to have lied flat on the ground to avoid being caught by stray bullet.
There have been conflicting reports that seven to 10 people had died while attempting to purchase the Court condemned food items that had been put on sale by the Adeniyi led NCS, as part of steps taken by the government to alleviate ‘’the impact of economic hardship in the country and stop the protests that have erupted in several parts of the country including Lagos and other major towns and cities across the country in the recent time.
The death of the Nigerians who may have left their home very early on the said Friday, February 23, 2024, to beat the Lagos traffic in order to take advantage of the Customs auction sales to buy the 25 Kg bag of rice and the incessant protests across the country may have given room, to Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra state and Presidential Candidate of the Opposition Labour Party, LP, in the February 25, 2023, Presidential election to speak out, that ‘’hunger protest have united the people against ethnicity, language , region , faith and location’’.
He had alluded to the fact that a massive crowd that had besieged the local office of the NCS, in Yaba, Lagos to purchase the auctioned 25Kg each of foreign and other food items in which some lives were lost due the stampede that ensued was a sign that something is wrong with the country’ s economy that requires urgent solution .
An aggrieved Obi had lamented that Nigerians are losing their lives in their desperate quest to buy food items at a cheaper price from Customs in the face of the growing hunger and starvation in the country which requires government intervention.
Perhaps to avoid further loss of lives arising from the sales of the food items at the Customs Lagos Zonal office, may have informed why the Customs Authorities has suspended the exercise, till further notice. Abdullahi Maiwada, a Chief Superintendent of Customs and the service spokesperson who had pushed out a Statement on Monday, February 26, 2024, at the instance of the Comptroller General had said that the suspension of the exercise will remain in force ‘until they are able to establish what actually transpired during the disposal of the food items on the said black Friday.
He had said that ‘’the exercise got off to a smooth start’’ when the Yaba gate of the Lagos Zonal Customs office was flung open for accredited interested buyers to come in under the strict supervision of security personnel which was corroborated by some Okada and tricycle riders and taxi drivers at the scene including Journalists covering the event.
H CSC Maiwada, stated ‘’that preferences were given to the elderly men and women, people living with disabilities , pregnant women and other vulnerable Nigerians who had showed up to purchase a the food items that had been put out for sales amid tight security to avoid breakdown of Law and order. However, he noted as at late afternoon, that Friday, no fewer than 5,000 people have attended to but lamented that the crowd became desperate and charged through the Customs barricades in search of rice bags inside emptied Containers.
The Customs spokesperson had confirmed that ‘’in the stampede that ensued in the process, some casualties and injuries were regrettably recorded’’ but could not give the total figure of the number of victims. To ascertain how the death had occurred at the Yaba venue of the sales of auctioned food items, Maiwada, has gladdened the hearts of Nigerians when he disclosed that ‘’the service had initiated an internal investigation to understand the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident’’ described by many as a bad advertisement to the Tinubu’s Administration.
Given CG Adeniyi’s care for human life may have informed why ‘’the service was currently working with the Health Authorities to establish contact and engage directly with the victims’ families on their next line of action’’.
Although, the Customs Authorities had suspended the auction sales of the condemned food items in the Customs Lagos Zonal office, for now, the Customs spokesperson had said that all hopes are not yet gone in restarting the exercise in Lagos and other Customs Formations across the country.
He may have given Nigerians a cause not to worry about as he had said that the outcome of the ongoing investigation about the recent incident at the Customs, Zonal office at Yaba, Lagos,, will go a long way ‘’in helping the service ‘’to properly articulate a more robust and comprehensive action plan that will not defeat the laudable efforts of the government’’.
At a recent meeting with Governors Dapo Abiodun, Ogun state, Prof and. Chukwuma Soludo, Anambra state , who incidentally was a former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, including Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Group , Tony Elumelu, Chairman , United Bank for Africa, UBA,Abdulsamad Rabiu, founder, BUA Group and Jubril Adewale Tinubu, Oando, all business moguls and Segun Ajayi-Kadir, President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, the Nigerian President had said that ‘’all options would be explored ‘’to resolve the nation’s socio- economic challenges’’.
President Tinubu who has given words to revive the nation’s collapsing economy was said to have told Governors Abbiodun, Prof. Soludo and the business moguls of his intention of setting up an Economic Advisory Committee comprising of both public and renowned Organised private sector operators to address the challenges facing the country’s economy.
True to his words, the Nigeria President had set up the all-important Advisory Economic Committee comprising of the two governors from the state level and reknowned multi-billionaire business men such as Dangote, Rabiu, Elumelu, Femi Otedola, Amina Maina, Boye Olusanya, and Ajayi-Kadir, President , MAN.
Other members of the Committee includes Bismarck Rewane, Samala Zubairu, Innocent Chukwuma, WaleTinubu, and Olayemi Michael Cardoso, incumbent governor of CBN.
The former Lagos state governor who was said to have had expressed the importance of the Economic Advisory Committee had urged the members to use their business expertise used in growing their business to compete with multinational Companies to put it into practice ’’in bringing back life to the country’s battered economy’’ as well as ‘’addressing the needs of Nigerians’’.
The focus of the Committee’s discussions at its first meeting at the State House, Abuja, FCT, which was said’’ to have centered primarily on the economy, food security and job creation’’, gives an insight to what Nigerians should expect in their economic recommendations to the government.
While the country’s economic hardship is getting tougher on a daily basis, Prof Soludo, governor of Anambra state, who had emphasized the importance of the Presidential Advisory Committee’s role in making economic recommendations had assured Nigerians that they will not fail in their new assignment to bring the country’s economy out of the wood.
Meanwhile, the Federal government, has unveiled plans to reopen the country’s borders with Benin Republic, Niger and the Central African country of Cameroon, to encourage the importation of cement and other commodities if the manufacturers refuse to reduce their prices.
Arc.Ahmed Dangiwa, minister of Housing and Development, who may have spoken the mind of President Tinubu, had said that the cement manufacturers have no reason not to reduce the price of their product in the country to make it affordable because ‘’ the key input raw materials for cement production like limestone, clay , silica sand and gypsum are sourced within the country’s borderlines’’, and therefore should not be based on the North American country of the United States dollar –rated.
The Housing and Development minister had made it clear to those that cares to listen hat the border with the neighbouring West African countries of Benin Republic, Niger and the Central African country of Cameroon, was closed by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration to stop the importation of cement to help local manufacturers , noting that ‘’if the present government decides to reopen closed Land borders back for mass importation of cement and other commodities, prices of cement and other locally manufactured items would crash and the local manufacturers would be ‘’gravely affected’’, urging them to support the government renewed drive to revive the economy.
