Why We Banned Food Importation Into Nigeria – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has explained the reason his administration took the decision to halt the importation of food into Nigeria.

Speaking at a virtual meeting with members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) at the State House, in Abuja, on Tuesday, President Buhari said the decision was taken to save jobs and foreign exchange.

He stressed that if his administration had not encourage the people to massively invest in agriculture, Nigeria would have been in trouble given the twin impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and the current flooding disaster.

“For us to bounce back to productivity, especially in agriculture, the unemployed with many of them uneducated had to be persuaded to go into agriculture,” he said.

‘‘If we hadn’t gone back to the lands we would have been in trouble by now. That is why we virtually stopped the importation of food thereby saving jobs and foreign exchange.”

The president also justified his administration’s borrowing to finance infrastructure, asserting that his government took loans in the interest of the country to solve the dire shortfall in infrastructure.

“We have so many challenges with infrastructure. We just have to take loans to do roads, rail, and power, so that investors will find us attractive and come here to put their money,’’ the President said after listening to a presentation by (PEAC) chaired by Professor Ayo Salami.

He regretted that the failure to provide the infrastructure for effective transportation deprived the country of its well-deserved status as the West African hub for Air cargo transportation and trans-shipment of goods.

On the issue of the economy, President Buhari noted the challenges posed by the “collapse of the oil market” and the decision of the government to abide by the reduced oil production quota allocated by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

“We have to accept that decision; otherwise they (Middle-East producers) can flood the market and make the product unviable. So we have cooperated with what we get. With oil, we are in a difficult situation. The politics of oil is that the less you produce, the more you earn,” he added.