Savings of $21bn from food import excites Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has lauded Nigerians for curbing excessive taste for foreign products, which has positioned the country for food self-sufficiency and resulted into savings of over 21 billion dollars.

Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, quoted the president as saying that the humongous savings would be deployed to other critical areas like infrastructure, education, health care and many others.

Adesina said that President Buhari was reacting to recent disclosures by Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who spoke at the 2018 Annual Bankers’ Dinner.

Emefiele at the dinner said: “Noticeable declines were steadily recorded in our monthly food import bill from 665.4 million dollars in January 2015 to 160.4 million dollars as at October 2018, a cumulative fall of 75.9% and an implied savings of over 21 billion dollars on food imports alone over that period.

“Most evident were the 97.3% cumulative reduction in monthly rice import bills, 99.6% in fish, 81.3% in milk, 63.7% in sugar, and 60.5% in wheat. We are glad with the accomplishments recorded so far.”

President Buhari said with the commitment of Nigerian farmers, and the support given by the government, “in no distant future, food importation will be completely alien to us, and we will even export actively, thus reversing our position as a mono- product economy.”

The CBN governor equally spoke on the number of jobs created in the agriculture sector:

“In the agriculture sector, the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) has ensured that Nigeria emerged from being a net importer of rice to becoming a major producer, supplying key markets in neighbouring countries.

“As at October 2018, a total number of 862,069 farmers cultivating about 835,239 hectares, across 16 different commodities, have so far benefited from Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, which has generated 2,502,675 jobs across the country.”

While describing the development as “heart-warming,” the President said it was just a matter of time before a significantly positive impact would be made in the statistics of the unemployed in the country, particularly from the agriculture sector.

He asserted: “We are on a productive voyage, which would see the ship of state berthing at the harbour of food self-sufficiency, gainful jobs, peace and prosperity for Nigerians.’’