President Muhammadu Buhari has mandated the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to maintain its non-provision of foreign exchange policy for food importation.
He gave the directive while delivering his speech at the fifth regular meeting with the presidential economic advisory council which took place on Tuesday at the statehouse in Abuja.
The President had issued a similar directive in August 2019 and in September 2020.
The president’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement released quoted Buhari as saying that his government will address food inflation next year.
The National Bureau of Statistics, in its recent report, revealed that the country’s inflation hit 18.30 percent in November.
READ ALSO: National Assembly Transmits ₦13.5 trillion Appropriation Bill To Executive
“Already, about seven states are producing all the rice we need. We must eat what we produce,” Buhari said.
“Going back to the land is the way out. We depend 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
“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.”
