The directive by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Central Bank of Nigeria should not sale foreign exchange to food importers has attracted varied reactions from stakeholders. While some people believe that the order will help Nigeria become self-sufficient in food production, others insist that it will further make it difficult for Nigerians to afford stable food.
Former Executive Director, Keystone Bank, Richard Obire, also said the President’s directive will help grow the agriculture sector. He said there is need to also provide the infrastructure needed to move food from where they are produced to where they are needed. ” It is not enough to produce food. You need to also have the infrastructure to move the foods to areas of need.
Yusuf said unemployment levels in the country has reached a disturbing level of over 23 per cent and rising. “Youth unemployment is even much more. Yet the panacea for dealing with the scourge of unemployment and poverty is an investment. If policy and regulatory risks continue to escalate as we are currently experiencing, the chances of stimulating investment, whether domestic or foreign, would remain dim.
Former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, said the president’s pronouncement was in order. He, however, added that there was the need for him to take into consideration, Nigeria’s peculiar environment before making such pronouncement. “Are Nigerians feeding well and producing enough at the moment. What is the gestation period for the policy implementation?”.
He said the volume of rice harvested from different farm locations in the state was unprecedented under the Anchor Borrower’s dry season rice farming programme.He added that the government’s ban on food importation crashed the price of a bag of maize from N10, 000 to N7, 000, that of a bag Sorghum from N13, 000 to N7, 000.The South-West Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria , Chief Femi Oke expressed gratitude to President Buhari on the matter.
He said the CBN’s action will help to unlock the huge potential of the sector by developing agricultural value chains and agro-allied industries that process and add value. This, according to him, will help local farmers to become competitive and raise their incomes. He noted that while the Presidency has placed irrigation and other farming equipment on zero duty, the Customs is yet to enforce it, thereby working at cross purpose with the government’s goal to achieve food security through provision of infrastructure for farming and local food processing.
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