Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has attributed Nigeria’s reliance on rice imports to the 1979 civilian administration’s decision to lift a ban he had previously put in place.
Obasanjo was the military Head of State who handed over power to Alhaji Shehu Shagari, democratically elected President of the Second Republic.
Speaking on Thursday in Abuja at the International Memorial Lecture and Leadership Conference marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination of former Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed, Obasanjo said his government had been on the verge of achieving self-sufficiency in rice production for Nigeria before handing over to civilians.
“By the time we left in July 1979, we wanted to be self-sufficient in rice production. We asked that a report be prepared on what was in the fields. The report showed that we would be self-sufficient that year,” he said.
Based on the findings, Obasanjo explained, his administration banned the importation of rice before leaving office in October 1979.
“When the civilian administration came in, one of the first things they did was to lift the ban on rice importation so they could allocate import licences to their supporters and political associates,” he added.
Obasanjo cited what he described as a notorious case of abuse involving a politically connected importer who inflated the cost of a rice contract in order to extract kickbacks.
“Let me give you an example. One of the barons who obtained a rice import licence from America ordered rice and then asked the suppliers to add $5 million to the cost. They did. They added the $5 million and supplied the rice. He then went back to New York and demanded $2.5 million out of the $5 million. They refused and gave him only $1 million. He reported the matter to the Nigerian embassy and to the Nigerian representative at the UN, who contacted the suppliers. The suppliers said they did not understand what the issue was.
“Eventually, the suppliers explained that the man had asked them to add $5 million to the cost and that, without doing so, they would have lost the contract. They took the risk and secured the deal. He wanted $2.5 million but had taken no risk, so they gave him $1 million.
“The ambassador said he felt like digging a hole and sinking into it. That was your country,” he said.
The former head of state added: “Since the lifting of the rice import ban in 1979, we have not recovered from it. That is why we are still importing rice today. These are the kinds of things that go wrong, and then we ask whether Africa has come of age. I wonder.”
