Nigerian Leader Says Rice Smuggling on Benin Border Alarming

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said large quantities of rice and other goods are being smuggled into the country through its western border with Benin and that the frontier was “partially closed” by the security forces to curb the trend.

“The country has saved huge sums of money which would otherwise have been expended on importing rice using our scarce foreign reserves,” an emailed presidency statement quoted Buhari as saying during a meeting in Yokohama, Japan, with Benin President Patrice Talon. “We cannot allow smuggling of the product at such alarming proportions to continue.”