Post by Ismail AbdulAzeez on Jan 24, 2021 12:27:20 GMT 1
Buhari Orders CBN Not To Give Foreign Exchange for Food Importation
During the fifth regular meeting he had with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council in Abuja late 2020, the president ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria not to give any money for food importation into the country anymore. The president promised that his administration will keep an open eye on food inflation in the year 2021.
During the meeting he told the audience that about seven states of the federation are already producing all the rice we need in the country. Why then waste our meager foreign exchange resources on importation of rice and other commodities we can produce here.
The president wondered aloud where we could have found ourselves in this country during the economic devastation caused by the effects of Covid-19 pandemic if the country did not embrace agriculture in time.
He lamented that the country had missed it a long time by depending solely on oil at the expense of agriculture. Being mono-culturally dependent on oil for decades had caused so much dislocation in our economy. The nation’s leader lamented that currently the oil industry is in turmoil and the effect on the economy is devastating.
The president revealed that the country is being squeezed to produce only 1.5 million barrels a day against our capacity to produce 2.3 million barrels a day. Also he said that the technical cost of producing a barrel of oil in Nigeria is far higher than the cost of producing the same in the Middle East. The country must take urgent measures to diversify the economy if we are to survive during this trying period and beyond.
Buhari emphasized the enviable position that agriculture has in our efforts to restore the economy almost taken down by harsh conditions, but we also must arrest rising inflation in the country. He reiterated that our citizens must be encouraged to go back to the land and embrace agriculture.
During the virtual meeting with the members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) at the State House in Abuja, he stated that Nigeria would have been in serious trouble by now if not for his government’s insistence that the nation must embrace agriculture.
Agriculture occupies an enviable position in the present government’s scheme of things as it reduces joblessness among both the youth and the whole adult population. Going into agriculture has significantly reduced poverty in the country. Testimonies abound of youth and other adult population that embraced agriculture and are now doing very well in terms of welfare.
The president also said that “For us to bounce back into productivity, especially in agriculture, the unemployed with many of them uneducated had to be persuaded to go into agriculture”.
He also reminded the nation that his government had virtually stopped the importation of food thereby saving the nation jobs and scarce foreign exchange.
The president also commented on the issue of Covid-19 pandemic and how it made the government take some decisions and policies in relation to electricity and fuel. He said that the government took such decisions as it places the nation above politics.
“Covid-19 has reduced the developed countries to the same level with us”. “We are lucky we went back to the land. We eat what we produce. We are doing our best to secure our country and provide infrastructure for investment to be viable in the country,” he said.
This forum partially supports the ban of the importation of food into the country; it will ginger the people especially the youth to go back to agriculture to feed the nation. But the president must make sure that all these policies that are being made are followed to the letter.
One of such policies is the opening of the borders, we all know that our borders are porous, and food items like rice have been notoriously smuggled into the country from there.
What will now happen to the farmers that have invested into agriculture to produce rice? It is a common knowledge that smuggled rice and other food items are usually cheaper than the local one. Therefore government must protect the fledging farmers at least for now.
During the fifth regular meeting he had with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council in Abuja late 2020, the president ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria not to give any money for food importation into the country anymore. The president promised that his administration will keep an open eye on food inflation in the year 2021.
During the meeting he told the audience that about seven states of the federation are already producing all the rice we need in the country. Why then waste our meager foreign exchange resources on importation of rice and other commodities we can produce here.
The president wondered aloud where we could have found ourselves in this country during the economic devastation caused by the effects of Covid-19 pandemic if the country did not embrace agriculture in time.
He lamented that the country had missed it a long time by depending solely on oil at the expense of agriculture. Being mono-culturally dependent on oil for decades had caused so much dislocation in our economy. The nation’s leader lamented that currently the oil industry is in turmoil and the effect on the economy is devastating.
The president revealed that the country is being squeezed to produce only 1.5 million barrels a day against our capacity to produce 2.3 million barrels a day. Also he said that the technical cost of producing a barrel of oil in Nigeria is far higher than the cost of producing the same in the Middle East. The country must take urgent measures to diversify the economy if we are to survive during this trying period and beyond.
Buhari emphasized the enviable position that agriculture has in our efforts to restore the economy almost taken down by harsh conditions, but we also must arrest rising inflation in the country. He reiterated that our citizens must be encouraged to go back to the land and embrace agriculture.
During the virtual meeting with the members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) at the State House in Abuja, he stated that Nigeria would have been in serious trouble by now if not for his government’s insistence that the nation must embrace agriculture.
Agriculture occupies an enviable position in the present government’s scheme of things as it reduces joblessness among both the youth and the whole adult population. Going into agriculture has significantly reduced poverty in the country. Testimonies abound of youth and other adult population that embraced agriculture and are now doing very well in terms of welfare.
The president also said that “For us to bounce back into productivity, especially in agriculture, the unemployed with many of them uneducated had to be persuaded to go into agriculture”.
He also reminded the nation that his government had virtually stopped the importation of food thereby saving the nation jobs and scarce foreign exchange.
The president also commented on the issue of Covid-19 pandemic and how it made the government take some decisions and policies in relation to electricity and fuel. He said that the government took such decisions as it places the nation above politics.
“Covid-19 has reduced the developed countries to the same level with us”. “We are lucky we went back to the land. We eat what we produce. We are doing our best to secure our country and provide infrastructure for investment to be viable in the country,” he said.
This forum partially supports the ban of the importation of food into the country; it will ginger the people especially the youth to go back to agriculture to feed the nation. But the president must make sure that all these policies that are being made are followed to the letter.
One of such policies is the opening of the borders, we all know that our borders are porous, and food items like rice have been notoriously smuggled into the country from there.
What will now happen to the farmers that have invested into agriculture to produce rice? It is a common knowledge that smuggled rice and other food items are usually cheaper than the local one. Therefore government must protect the fledging farmers at least for now.