The Zamfara State Transport Agency (ZARTO) stopped 50 trucks carrying various grains out of Nigeria to Niger on Monday. The agency was following a presidential order to crack down on food hoarding and scarcity.
President Bola Tinubu had instructed the National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, the Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services Yusuf Bichi to work with state governors to find and stop those who were hoarding food.
The president met with the governors in Abuja last Thursday to discuss the food crisis caused by the increase in transport costs after the removal of fuel subsidy and the insecurity that prevented farmers from harvesting their crops.
The Nigeria Customs Service also reported that it seized 15 trailers of foodstuff heading to Niger through the Sokoto borders on Sunday.
In addition, the Kano State Government shut down 10 warehouses that were suspected of hoarding food items.
ZARTO’s spokesperson, Sale Shinkafi, claimed that the trucks were trying to smuggle the food items to Niger.
He said, “We caught 50 trucks loaded with different grains as they were attempting to smuggle them out of the country. We told the owners to go back and sell the food to Nigerians at the right prices.”
Shinkafi said that the trucks did not have any escort from the agency, but were only ordered to go back to their places of origin and sell the food at reasonable prices.
He said, “Our main goal is to ensure that the food items are not smuggled out of the country. We just stopped them from entering Niger.”
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) blamed the wholesalers for the smuggling of food items out of the country.
They said that the wholesalers were buying large amounts of food from local farmers and secretly taking them to other countries like Niger, Cameroon, and others.
