An Enugu-based commercial rice farmer, Mr Ekene Uzodinma, has advised Nigerians against panic buying and hoarding of rice ahead of the Yuletide celebration.
Uzodinma, who is the Manager of Excellent Integrated Farms Ltd, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Monday.
He said that Nigeria had abundant rice that could last for about two years, adding that, “with that in mind, no one should engage in panic buying in the first place.”
Uzodinma said that panic buying and hoarding would naturally cause the price to rise unnecessarily.
“Some Nigerians are already misled by social media messages that the border closure will lead to scarcity and high cost of rice.
“But that is a fallacy because there is more rice, I mean local rice, that could take the country about two years to consume.
“You can see that a family that needed only a bag of rice is ordering for 10 or more bags at a time.
“There are other families that are cashing in on the situation and using the border closure to become rice merchants and hoarding the commodity in order to re-sell it during the Yuletide.
“However, if Nigerians just buy rice normally, there would be no price increase and the quantity of the commodity will always be sufficient for all,’’ he said. (NAN)
