Kano Anti-Corruption Agency Cracks Down On Hoarding, Seals Over 10 Warehouses

Kano State– In a bid to curb artificial price hikes and ensure the availability of essential commodities, the Kano State Public Compliant and Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday, sealed off more than 10 warehouses suspected of hoarding goods.

Commission Chairman, Bar. Muhuyi Rimingado, oversaw the sealing of warehouses containing vital commodities like grains, millets, sugar, and spaghetti during an unannounced inspection of Africa’s foremost grain market, Dawanau Grain Market in Kano.

He stated that the impromptu inspection of the warehouses in the vicinity followed an intelligence report and the procurement of a search warrant from the court.

Rimingado stated that the operation was necessary to address the ongoing rise in prices of essential goods, which is worsening the hardships experienced by Nigerians.

“As you can see, the Kano state Public Complaint and Anti Corruption Commission (PCACC) has made true its promise that we are going to embark on a fight against hoarding of essential commodities in the state.

“We started last Thursday and we have made a significant impact towards stopping the incessant rise in the price of essential commodities. It was such that within a week, rice had jumped from N52,000 to N61,000 within a week.

“Alhamdulillah from what we have done so far, we are certain that there is an impact. From here we are going to the market to ascertain the situation.

“Firstly, we were able to stop the incessant increase in prices of the commodities and secondly we have the belief that if we sustain the tempo we will be able to bring down the prices.

“As you can see now we are going around the warehouses and we met a lot of issues which after we go back to the office we are going to digest.

“One fundamental problem is each warehouse we enter will be claiming that it is the World Food Program Store. We wonder if the World Food program will starve the country while taking the food somewhere else.

“You can see, I was told here today that the price of maize has jumped from N30,000 to N60,000. So you see, a hundred percent increase, this is unacceptable. You can see these stores, there are hundreds of millions of Naira worth of hoarded commodities.

“We are taking over the stores now and we are going to make some arrests because these will not be tolerated. This is not a market, this is a warehouse. We have activated our intelligence mechanism and they have come up with reports on where and how they are hoarding it.

“We have three options, we are taking over the warehouses which we have now. Secondly, we are putting our operative here and put another padlock on the stores. Thirdly, we will invite the owners, when they come we will dissect. What investigation reveal, then it will end up in the court,” he added.

Earlier, a warehouse officer, name undisclosed, told the Chairman that the essential commodities were stocked in the warehouse for a contract allegedly entered with the United Nations under Food Supply Agreement, FSA for onward transportation to their logistics hub in Maiduguri, Yobe, and Adamawa for distribution among Nigerians in the states.

During the inspection of one of the commodities markets popularly known as Singer market, Leader of the market, Alh. Muhammadu Adakawa said they were happy with the move by the anti-graft agency as the soaring prices by the companies also has adverse effects on their businesses.

He claimed they were merely victims of circumstance, unfairly accused of hoarding goods and causing prices to skyrocket.

Adakawa, the market leader, has expressed their willingness to collaborate with the agency to resolve the situation.