Rice Fraud: FCCPC Frowns at Re-bagging Of Local as Foreign Products

By Oluwakemi Kindness

Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has tasked sellers of rice in the Nigerian market to source their stock from Nigerian mills and authorized distributors or importers of foreign brands.

The FCCPC handed down the charge in Abuja on Tuesday after it carried out an enforcement raid and sealed several shops for allegedly buying and selling of local rice re-bagged as foreign brands by market cartels in Utako market.

Officials of the FCCPC were led on the raid by the Director, surveillance and investigation at the FCCPC, Boladale Adeyinka, who noted that the re-bagging of Royal Stallion and Mama Gold as foreign rice by market cartels is exploitative and against the consumer economic interest.

Reports shows the companies had ceased importing their rice brands into Nigeria as far back as 2015.

However, during the raid, five large shops stocked with various bags of rice were sealed while the owners were directed to report to the FCCPC headquarters for investigation.

Speaking with newsmen, the Director of the Surveillance and Investigation Department, FCCPC, Boladale Adeyinka, said intelligence shows a trend of re-bagging local rice as foreign brands.

“The Commission has resolved to carry out this ongoing operation to confirm and validate reports that local rice is being packaged as imported rice,” she explained.

She lamented that due to Nigerians’ preference for foreign rice—despite it no longer being imported—market cartels have allegedly resorted to re-bagging local rice and sell same as foreign.

“The Commission has resolved to carry out this ongoing operation to confirm and validate reports that local rice is being packaged as imported rice,” she explained.

“We will follow the trail to identify those producing and branding local rice with foreign labels that no longer exist in the market. The brand owners have already publicly announced they are no longer distributing in Nigeria. However, due to brand recognition, these cartels continue to exploit consumers,” she added.

She assured the public that the Commission will continue to remove such products from the market.

“We have administrative penalties and fines under our law,” she said, noting that any resistance by traders or refusal to cooperate with investigators will result in prosecution.

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