By Faridat Salifu
BUA Group has declared its readiness to combat hoarding in Nigeria’s rice market by using its available stock to stabilise prices and protect consumers from speculative price hikes.
Chairman of the Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, made this known on Thursday after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. He said the recent spike in the price of paddy rice—from N400,000 to N800,000 per tonne—was not driven by farmers but by traders and middlemen who hoard grains to resell at inflated prices.
“We have enough rice to last us till the end of the year. Anybody who tries to hoard rice and try to take the price up, we are going to crash the price,” Rabiu said.
He explained that as a leading member of the Rice Millers Association, BUA and other millers have agreed to discourage hoarding within the sector and maintain steady supply to the market to curb artificial scarcity.
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The BUA Chairman attributed the recent drop in grain prices to the federal government’s 150-day duty-free import window, which he said BUA leveraged to bring in large volumes of rice, maize, and other key staples.
“Prices have come down significantly,” he said. “Rice that sold for N100,000 per 50kg bag is now about N60,000. Maize is at N30,000, and flour is down to N55,000. This is because we took advantage of the waiver to flood the market with food.”
Rabiu stressed the importance of balancing support for farmers with the need to protect Nigerians from exploitative pricing.
“It is important to protect our farmers, but at the same time, we also have 250 million Nigerians who are paying far more than they should because of the actions of a few people trying to create scarcity,” he said.
BUA warned that those who stockpiled grains in anticipation of price increases are now counting losses, and the company is committed to maintaining market stability.
With rising demand and forecasts of reduced local production, Rabiu called for careful planning to prevent another surge in prices once the import window expires. He commended the federal government’s broader efforts, including the direct import of 250,000 metric tonnes each of maize and wheat, to boost the National Strategic Grain Reserve and reinforce food security.
