The Federal Government is not happy with the indiscriminate hike in the cost of local rice in the country.

Alhaji Sabo Nanono, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development revealed this at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.

According to him, it is dishonesty on the part of the dealers and very unfair to Nigerians.

He added that he plans to engage with this involved and proffer a solution.

His words, “l am going to engage with them on this; we are going to discuss this and l am going to be thorough on it because l know this business.”

If such measure is taking who will lose?

“The millers and people that are employed, that is Nigerians that will lose,”

“Sometimes people are not honest, before the border closure, rice was sold for between N5,000, N8,000, and N9,000 but shortly after the closure, dealers were selling it for N15,000 to N16,000 and now it has risen to N17,000.

“There were times when they were buying rice at N5, 000, N8, 000 and most of them if you check they have stock up to eight months.’’

“When the border was closed, a company told me that it was having over 600 tonnes in stock and most of these integrated millers are employing between 200 and 350 people directly.”