Hardship: Kano Seizes Warehouses For Hoarding Commodities

Kano Public Complaint and Anti-corruption Commission (PCACC) has confiscated warehouses containing hundreds of millions of Naira worth of hoarded commodities in the state.

In a swift operation by the chairman of the commission, Muhyi Magaji Rimingado, several warehouses along Dawanau International Grains Market, Singer Market and Kwari Textiles Market were sealed by the commission, yesterday.

The owners of such warehouses were nowhere to be found during the operation but those opened were stacked full of commodities including spaghetti, rice, pasta, sugar and other food items.

The warehouses owners have been issued notice to report to the commission preparatory to facing charges before the court of law for their illegal activities that are telling on the populace.

“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 instant 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.

“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.

“First, we were able to stop the instant 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 from where they have gotten to.

“As you can see, we are going round 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 stalk we entered, they will be claiming that it is the World Food Programme (WFP) Store. We wonder if the WFP 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 certain 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,” he said.