The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Rice Quota and Duty Payments on Rice Imports has recommended that all importers involved in the alleged import duty scam refund N25 billion to the federal government.
The Leo Ogor-led House Committee also recommended that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) should close down the warehouses of importers reportedly linked with the rice import duty fraud.
Also in the report yet to be laid before the House, it was recommended that the suspects should be interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) immediately.
Another major area that the report focused on was the 2015 rice import allocation and it recommended that it should be cancelled to avoid a recurrence of the massive fraud that engulfed it.
The former minister of agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, again raised the issue of monies owed the federal government by the importers, which is to the tune of N36 billion.
By Pita Ochai
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