Hoarding: Kano Anti-graft Agency Raids 10 Warehouses, Confiscates Essential Goods

Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano

The Kano State Public Complaint and Anti Corruption Commission (PCACC) on Sunday raided 10 warehouses at Dawanau International Commodity Market in Kano metropolis and confiscated essential goods running into several millions of naira.

The commission had set up an intelligence mechanism and launched a manhunt for food hoarders who had imposed untold hardship on citizens of the state.

The Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Muhyi, who led other personnel, forced open warehouses and stores engaged in hoarding of assorted foodstuff across the state.

As the owners of the warehouses were nowhere to be found during the operation, commodities such as rice, spaghetti, pasta, sugar, cooking oil and other food items were found in the warehouses.

Muhyi said some of the owners of the warehouses have been notified to report to the anti-graft commission preparatory to facing charges at the court of law. 

“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, the price of rice had jumped from N52,000 to N61,000.

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

“Firstly, 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 now, 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 enter they will be claiming that it is the World Food Programme Store. We wonder if the World Food Programme 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 per cent increase, this is unacceptable. You can see these stores, there are hundreds of millions of naira worth of hoarded commodity.

“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.