Buhari asks CBN not to give forex for food import

 

Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja

 

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday  reiterated his earlier directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not to  grant foreign exchange for food importation.

He also promised that his administration would from early next year  keep an eye on the rising cost of foodstuff in the country.

The President, who had last September said  ”nobody importing food should be given money,” also stated that diversification from oil to agriculture saved  Nigeria from the harsh economic realities of COVID-19.

He spoke during his  fifth   meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council at the State House, Abuja yesterday.

Buhari, according to a statement   by his  Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said  since seven states produce enough rice that the nation needs, it made no sense to import food.

“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. The  President had in September explained that  Nigeria which hitherto had only three fertilizer blending plants now has 33.

In taking note of the strides made in agricultural production through  diversification,    Buhari wondered where the country would have been  by now that COVID-19  was ravaging the global economy.

He said: “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.”

The President emphasised the place of agriculture in the efforts to restore the economy but agreed that measures must be put in place to curtail inflation in the country:

His words: “We will continue to encourage our people to go back to the land. Our elite is indoctrinated in the idea that we are rich in oil, leaving the land for the city for oil riches. We are back to the land now.

“We must not lose the opportunity to make life easier for our people. Imagine what would have happened if we didn’t encourage agriculture and closed the borders. We would have been in trouble.”

The meeting, which was for a review of  and reflections on the global and domestic economy in the outgoing year was attended by  Vice-President  Yemi Osinbajo, as well as Ministers of Finance, Zainab  Ahmed and her  Humanitarian Affairs counterpart Sadiya  Farouk.

The meeting  noted as follows:

the sharp deterioration in international economic environment and its impact on Nigeria’s continuing but fragile economic recovery;

that Nigeria’s economic growth continues to be constrained by obvious challenges, including infrastructural deficiencies and limited resources for government financing; and

the need to make the private sector of the economy the primary source of investment, rather than government.

The meeting reviewed progress towards structural reforms in response to the economic crises, including the institution of the Economic Sustainability Plan, the changes in electricity tariffs and fuel pricing regime, the partial re-opening of the nation’s  land borders, the movement towards unification of exchange rates and budgetary reforms through Finance Bill 2020 and 2021.

It also  agreed that, to prepare the country for the challenges ahead, it is imperative to ensure macro-economic stability, create certainty and re-build investor confidence in the economy.

The meeting emphasised the need to deepen structural reforms initiated by the  Buhari administration as a basis for stimulating investments from domestic and international sources with a view to raising productivity in key sectors of the economy.