3/26/2020 Nigeria Cries Fowl: Presidential Policy Makes Chicken, the National Dish, a Rare Bird - WSJ

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Nigeria Cries Fowl: Presidential Policy Makes

Chicken, the National Dish, a Rare Bird
New rule blocks birds from neighboring Benin, creating shortage; game of chicken on the border

By Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw

December 11, 2019

LAGOS—One of the largest restaurant chains in the largest economy in Africa keeps running
out of chicken. Its name is Chicken Republic.

In recent weeks, Nigeria has been in the grip of a run on chicken—a culinary conundrum since
chicken and rice is the most popular pairing in Nigerian cuisine.

Johnny Rockets ran out of wings. Mr. Bigg’s, a chain of chicken shops, has closed branches
because it couldn’t source drumsticks. KFC branches are boasting that, unlike their rivals, they
have a steady supply of their most important ingredient.

In this country of 200 million, some of Nigeria’s most recognizable pop and movie stars have
issued statements expressing the anger of consumers.

“I don’t get it... a chicken place wey no get chicken,” said Funke Akindele
Bello, one of Nigeria’s most famous actresses, to her almost one million
followers, in pidgin English. “Excuse me?!”

The reason is a policy fowl by Nigeria’s protectionist president. This

summer Muhammadu Buhari shocked the country and its neighbors by
closing the country’s land borders to all goods.

The move was intended to stop rampant smuggling and help enforce a decade-old directive that
chicken and rice should be made with only locally farmed ingredients.

The announcement, part of a “Nigeria first” pivot, is popular with farmers and local producers
who want a bigger stake of Nigeria’s $400 billion economy.

For years, the majority of the country’s chicken and rice was smuggled across the border with
the tiny nation of Benin. The birds came on the back of motorcycles, taxis, trucks, canoes,
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bicycles, wheelbarrows or in buckets atop women’s heads. Traffickers usually paid off the
customs officers in cash, or sometimes food.

A post at the border of Nigeria and Benin.

PHOTO: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE GETTY IMAGES

President Buhari’s border closure was intended to stimulate domestic production enough to
reduce an annual food import bill of some $4 billion and pry the country away from smuggled
produce. The problem is that Nigeria currently produces less than one-third of the poultry and
around half of the rice it consumes, according to official statistics.

Benin doesn’t actually have much chicken of its own to sell to Nigeria. So it imports chicken
from foreign countries, then exports it to Nigeria.

In 2015, Benin imported almost as much whole frozen chicken as the U.K. and almost as much
rice as China, making the country of 11 million the world’s fourth-biggest buyer of foreign rice,
according to the World Trade Organization. At least 85% of Benin’s chicken slipped across the
porous border into Nigeria, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These days, Benin
imports about half the chicken it used to; it was the world’s sixth-largest buyer of rice last year.

Now the border is patrolled by operatives from Nigeria’s National Security Agency, the CIA’s
partner institute on the ground, under a mission code-named “Exercise Swift Response.”
Dozens of trucks carrying chicken and rice have been impounded.

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Because chicken can’t get through to Nigeria, Benin was stuck with way more than it could use.
Thousands of frozen chickens have been buried in shallow graves; disposing of them that way
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was cheaper than incinerating them. Now, the vast cold stores that once held tons of poultry on
the Benin side are empty.

Smugglers who could once pay a small bribe to bring truckloads of chicken across the border
are now hacking frozen birds into pieces and wedging wings and breasts into boxes, handbags
or car doors. Rice is poured into jerrycans that are filled with a tiny amount of oil at the spout to
disguise the contraband inside. At night, smugglers on motorbikes ride in convoys of 10 with
boxes of chicken strapped across their shoulders.

“We go in teams because it’s safer,” said one smuggler who gave his name as Tunde. “If the
customs officers come, we discard the chicken and scatter.”

Nigerian soldiers have expanded nighttime patrols of the land border and searches of small
boats sailing along the waterways. On local news channels, uniformed customs officers parade
around tables festooned with yellow jerrycans and boxes of smuggled rice, as if it were a drug
bust.

The government claims the closure has been a roaring success, recording record revenue for
rice and chicken arriving at sea ports that is taxed at 70%. “We are sharpening our skills and the
odds are now against the smugglers,” said Joseph Atta, spokesman for Nigeria’s customs
department.

The price of a single bird in Nigeria has soared more than 30% to as high as 1,000 Naira, or
$3.50, according to farmers. Dozens of Chicken Republic branches have been forced to turn
customers away or offer their signature chicken with spicy jollof rice dish, without its key
ingredient.

David Butler, managing director of Food Concepts, which owns Chicken Republic, said the
company “buys 100% of its chicken, rice, herbs & spices and produce directly from local
Nigerian farmers and suppliers” and “at times, demand for our meals has outstripped the
supply of local chicken, hence our shortages” in late 2019. The company is committed to
“working with local partners, suppliers and people who share our passion to serve Nigerian
consumers,” he said.

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Customers at Chicken Republic in Abuja.

PHOTO: GBENGA AKINGBULE

“We will just have to see if the government will budge… is this going to continue?” said Deji
Akinyanju, the founder of Chicken Republic, who stepped down from the board in 2017 and is no
longer affiliated with the company.

Yahuza Chicken, a popular spot set in a garden in Abuja, has begun to open at 1 p.m. instead of 8
a.m. due to lack of its core product. “We have never seen this kind of scarcity before,” said
Abubakar Abdullahi, the manager. The store had to raise prices by almost 40%: “We are
pleading with our customers to bear with the price hike.”

In Lagos, customers have begun swapping tips on which restaurant branches have stocks and
where lines are longest. “When I found chicken last week, two people stopped me to ask which
outlet I bought it from,” said Deborah Dede, a customer.

“Osun state has sold out of chicken,” said Adiobun Kolawole, a 25-year-old who in June set up
his own chicken-breeding business in the southwest, Supreme Imperio Farms, to capitalize on
the market dislocation. “I have 500 birds and they sell immediately, but even if I had 50,000 it
wouldn’t be enough.”

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Chicken and rice is a popular dish.

PHOTO: AFOLABI SOTUNDE REUTERS

Last year KFC ran out of chicken across the U.K. for 24 hours after problems with its supplier.
“The chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants,” KFC’s U.K. office tweeted. In
Nigeria, the company says it has an entirely domestic supply so it isn’t affected by the import
ban and is rolling out its new Celebration Feast menu. The chain has increased prices. KFC has
16 stores in Nigeria. Chicken Republic has more than 60, and Mr. Bigg’s has 170.

More price surges are expected as Nigeria moves into the holiday season, where demand for
poultry soars as Christian families from across the country traditionally slaughter and eat hens
on Christmas day.

Grace Emmanuel, an Abuja resident, said she will have a different item at Christmas for the first
time. “Chicken is fast becoming the exclusive preserve for the rich,” she said. “This year I think
I will take a small amount of beef instead.”

—Gbenga Akingbule contributed to this article.

Corrections & Amplifications

An earlier version of this article failed to mention that Deji Akinyanju, the founder of Chicken
Republic, stepped down from the board in 2017 and is no longer affiliated with the company.
The Journal added response from David Butler, managing director of Food Concepts, which
owns Chicken Republic, after the article was published. (Jan. 17, 2020)

Write to Joe Parkinson at joe.parkinson@wsj.com and Drew Hinshaw at

drew.hinshaw@wsj.com

Copyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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