The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele said that the presidential directive against the provision of foreign exchange for food importation runs in consonance with the apex bank’s existing policy.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in the past week asked the CBN to stop providing forex for food importers, with a view to bolstering local capacities.
According to World Market and Trade, USDA, Nigeria in 2018 produced 4.66 million tonnes of rice and is expected to produce 4.90 million tonnes in 2020.
The country’s rice demand is estimated to be 7.30 million tonnes in 2020, implying over three million tonnes of rice shortage.
The ongoing conversation among the critics has expressed worries over the bank’s autonomy as well as the country’s local capacity to meet national food demands.
However, Emefiele has defended the president’s directive and said the bank would vigorously drive the policy.
He said that the President’s comment on the issuing of forex to people who import food items into the country is in the logic of CBN’s management foreign exchange policies that we started since 2016,”
He added that apart from not being able to source forex from the apex bank, food importers would also not get forex from commercial banks.
He indicated that the policy would have positive implications for job creation, foreign reserve, and national security.
“Why should we be exporting jobs to other countries? Today we are complaining that there is a high rate of unemployment, leading to some extent the level of insecurity in the country, why should we allow people to import food that can be produced in the country? he said
“We need to improve wealth in our rural communities and I am saying we will not change course, we will even be more aggressive on this program.”