President Buhari has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop providing forex for the importation of food items or fertilizer.
Speaking on Thursday at a meeting of the National Food Security Council at the State House in Abuja, the president urged private businesses bent on food importation to source their foreign exchange independently.
He also directed that blenders of fertilizer should convey products directly to State governments so as to skip the cartel of transporters undermining the efforts to successfully deliver the products to users at reasonable costs.
The President in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, advised private businesses bent on food importation to source their foreign exchange independently, saying ”use your money to compete with our farmers”, instead of using foreign reserves to bring in compromised food items to divest the efforts of our farmers.
President Buhari wrote on Twitter;
“I am restating it that nobody importing food or fertilizer should be given foreign exchange from the Central Bank. We will not pay a kobo of our foreign reserves to import food or fertilizer. We will instead empower local farmers and producers.
We have a lot of able-bodied young people willing to work, and agriculture is the answer.”
I am restating it that nobody importing food or fertilizer should be given foreign exchange from the Central Bank. We will not pay a kobo of our foreign reserves to import food or fertilizer. We will instead empower local farmers and producers.
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) September 10, 2020
