By Khadija Muhammed
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has blamed Nigeria’s long-standing dependence on rice imports on a policy decision taken at the start of the Second Republic in 1979, saying the reversal of a rice import ban set the country back by decades.
Obasanjo made the remarks 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.
Recounting events at the end of military rule in 1979, Obasanjo said his administration was close to achieving rice self-sufficiency before handing over power to the civilian government led by President Shehu Shagari.
According to him, a report commissioned before his exit showed that Nigeria was on track to meet its rice needs locally that year.
However, Obasanjo alleged that one of the first actions of the incoming civilian administration was to lift the ban, a move he claimed was aimed at allocating import licences to political associates and supporters.
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.
To highlight the consequences of the decision, Obasanjo cited an example involving a politically connected importer who allegedly inflated the price of a rice contract to obtain kickbacks.
According to Obasanjo, the matter was reported to Nigerian officials abroad, and the suppliers allegedly confirmed that the additional cost had been inserted at the importer’s request to secure the deal.
He maintained that Nigeria has not fully recovered from the lifting of the rice import ban, arguing that policy inconsistency has continued to undermine the country’s agricultural development.
