Buhari charges CBN not to give forex for food importation

President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated his earlier directive of last September to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not to grant foreign exchange for food importation.

Buhari declared that his administration would from early next year keep an eye on the rising cost of foodstuff in the country, adding that diversification from oil to agriculture saved Nigeria from the harsh economic realities of COVID-19.

The President gave the charge during his fifth meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council at the State House, Abuja yesterday.

Astatement by the President Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, quoted Buhari to have said that 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.

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

“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,” he said.

The President highlighted the place of agriculture in the efforts to restore the economy but acknowledged that measures must be put in place to curtail inflation in the country.

“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,” he pointed out.

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

The meeting took note of the following: 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 also 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.

The meeting 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 harped on 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 nation’s economy.