Vietnam has appealed to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to prevail on the government of Nigeria to open its borders and allow it to be exporting Vietnamese rice at discounted prices to the country.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Vietnam, Vying Dinb Hue, who led 5-member committee to meet the APC Chairman Adams Oshiomhole in Abuja said they had also scheduled a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo with view to restating the same position.
But his reaction, Oshiomhole insisted that the border would remain close until Nigeria’s neighbouring countries abide by the ECOWAS law, adding that Vietnamese farmers can come to the country and invest in rice production.
He stressed that Nigerian Government will not allow any country to make the country a dumping ground for unwanted chemicals, spoilt products among other goods.
“Nigerians should unanimously back the decision of the Federal Government to close the borders until our neighbours decide to respect the laws of fair and free trade.
“Nigeria must not and cannot be a dumping ground for imported foods, imported rice and other smuggled chemicals and drugs into our country.
“I think this is one policy that across party divides, across premodial sentiments, people should salute the courage of President Muhammadu Buhari in shutting down the borders because for too long, we have been a big brothers to our neighbours.
“Now, that big brother is hurting us and hurting us very badly. We must secure ourselves as they say when you board an aircraft that if oxygen fails and they drop the mask, help yourself before helping others.
“This is the moment. We must keep those borders shut. If we do so for two, three years, it doesn’t matter. So that, our neighbours will learn to respect the rules of international engagement and the rules of trade.
“What has happened is that, people relocate out of Nigeria, target Nigerian market and use our neighbours to compromise our own trade policies. So, I think the media should understand what is at stake.
“We cannot continue to relyijg on imported rice. That was why I told the DPM, when he talked about allowing Vietnamese rice to come to Nigeria. I said No, we are not going to do that, we will not do that.
“On the contrary, we are prohibiting the importation of rice, not just that CBN denied the foreign exchange because there are linkages of forex unofficial. We don’t need imported rice because when I was growing up, and when you are growing up, we didn’t grow on imported rice. We must recognize that we are facing serious economic challenges”, Oshiomhole stated.
James Kwen, Abuja
