By Dwelleth Morountodun
President Muhammadu Buhari, during the Sallah break on Tuesday ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
to stop all foreign exchange allocation to food importation.
According to him, the hitherto foreign exchange that is being wasted on food Import will now be channeled to diversification of the economy, adding: “Don’t give a cent to anybody to import food into the country.”
Mr. Garba Shehu, Buhari’s senior special adviser on media was quoted in a statement as saying that Kebbi, Ogun, Lagos, Kano, Jigawa and Ebonyi, were already sufficient in local food production. He urged other state governments to follow suit.
Buhari said: “We have achieved food security and for physical security, we are not doing badly.”
The president added that he was particularly excited that young Nigerians are keying into his agricultural policy to become agri-entrepreneur with many giving testimonies of their success in agriculture.
On making agriculture as driver of his economic policy, the president explained that an agriculture expert will be appointed to hold that portfolio.
Also, he said the incoming ministers would be guided to meet the targets of the All Progressive Congress (APC) led government for the people, stressing that regular monitoring of their performances and scaling up of targets would be done by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).