President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should not grant foreign exchange for food importation.
Buhari speaking during his fifth meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council at the State House, Abuja on Tuesday, promised that his administration would from early next year monitor the rising cost of foodstuff in the country.
Edu-Biznews recalled that the president, had last September said ”nobody importing food should be given money,”
Buhari in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity,Mallam Garba Shehu,also stated that his administration diversification from oil to agriculture saved Nigeria from the harsh economic realities of COVID-19.
The president in the statement , stressed that since seven states produce enough rice that the nation needs, it made no sense to import food into the country.
,“The CBN must not give money to import food. Already, about seven states are producing all the rice we need. We must eat what we produce,”he stated
Buhari explained that his administration policy on ban on importation of foods and other items produced in Nigeria since last September, had led to establishment of 33 fertilizer blending plants from the initial three .
He added that measures would be put in place to curtail inflation in the country, and use agriculture sector, to restore the economy
Buhari recalling his administration giant stride in agricultural production ,wondered where the country would have been by now that COVID-19 was ravaging the global economy.
His words: “Going back to the land is the way out. We depended on petrol at the expense of agriculture. Now, the oil industry is in turmoil. We are being squeezed to produce at 1.5 million barrels a day as against a capacity to produce 2.3 million. At the same time, the technical cost of our production per barrel is high, compared to the Middle East production cost.”
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