Mr Godwin Emefiele, governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank said that those that defaulted in the payment of customs duty after bringing in excess quotas of rice into the country at concessionary rates would be penalised.

He said the CBN would take up the issue to the highest level in government to ensure that the money was paid.

“By exceeding their import quota, these importers have flooded the market with rice that is sold below what is produced locally thus, making the consumer ignore the locally produced ones.

“We are going to enforce it and we will go to the highest level to enforce this to ensure that they pay and I appeal to them to go and pay,’’ he added.

In a previous statement, The Nigerian Customs said N20 billion was yet to be paid by the importers, although former agriculture minister, Dr. Adewunmi Adesina had quoted N36 billion as the duties outstanding.

The Customs had said it was poised to use legal means to get the money.

Customs spokesman Wale Adeniyi said: “We have briefed our lawyers and they are ready to take all the steps necessary to ensure that they are prosecuted. We are going to do everything necessary to compel them to pay. We may block them from our system so that they would not be able to process their papers or seal off their premises if we like.”

The importers are: Olam, Stallion/Popular Foods, Bua, Millan Nigeria Limited, Ebony Agro, Atafi Rice Industries Limited and Arewa Rice Mill.