The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has hinted that Wheat, which is used to produce many staple food items, including bread and biscuit, will soon join the list of items restricted from importation into the country.
The CBN said that $2 billion is spent annually to import wheat, thereby depleting the country’s foreign reserves.
The apex bank explained that only one per cent (about 63,000 metric tonnes) of wheat out of the five to six million metric tonnes (MT) of wheat consumed in Nigeria is produced locally.
So to fill the gap, the CBN plans to start a massive local production of wheat.
The implication of this is that any firm that requires imported wheat for its operation will have to seek alternative source of foreign exchange after the imposition of the restriction.
A source from CBN, who disclosed this to newsmen, said, “Any moment from now, wheat will be added to the forex restriction list”.
The source explained that the government has imported hybrid wheat seeds for dry season farming as part of efforts to boost local production.
He added that the CBN’s arrangement is to put wheat farmers in a position to meet the high demand for the item.
Speaking at a wheat conference and stakeholders; engagement in Abuja at the weekend, the Director of Development Finance Department at the CBN, Philip Yila Yusuf, said, “Wheat is the second highest contributor to the country’s food import bill putting pressure on the country’s foreign reserve”.
“The CBN plans to address key problems in the value chain through financing massive production of wheat in Nigeria and seeks to facilitate sustained availability of high yield seed variety in the country and to improve general productivity.
“There was enormous challenge before the CBN, which would require concerted efforts to address.
The CBN will focus attention on the wheat value chain for 2021/2022 dry season planting, after sustainable progress made across the rice and maize value chain”.