Nigerians smuggle about one million metric tonnes of chicken in a year-PAN
The Poultry Association of Nigeria has stated that in one year, the volume of chicken being smuggled into Nigeria is about one million metric tonnes.
The Director-General of PAN, Onallo Akpa, stated this while appluading the Federal government’s border closure policy, saying that the closure is currently reducing the smuggling of chicken into the country.
The Punch reports that Akpa, said that the closure had not only created market for locally-produced poultry, but had also created jobs in the last one month when the borders were closed.
According to Akpa, ”if one million tonnes of chicken are smuggled into Nigeria and the border is closed, the impact will be massive.”
“By this I mean that if one million tonnes of chicken is being produced locally, you can end up generating over 100,000 jobs,” he said.
He urged the government should not be discouraged but should tighten its grip on the exercise.
PAN and Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria also urged the Federal Government not to open the borders, especially to the importation of food items that can be produced in Nigeria.
