Buhari didn’t ban food importation

Meanwhile, the presidency has dismissed insinuations that President Muhammadu Buhari has banned or restricted the import of agricultural products into the country.

The senior special assistant on media and publicity to the president, Mallam Garba Shehu, made the clarification in a reaction to a report by the Financial Times titled: “Muhammadu Buhari sparks dismay over policy shift on food imports” on 15th August, 2019.

Shehu said that Buhari only directed the Central Bank of Nigeria( CBN) not to provide forex for food importers.

According to him, any food importer is free to source for forex from non-government financial institutions and pay customs duty on such imports.

He said: “Your article ‘Muhammadu Buhari sparks dismay over policy shift on food imports’ (15 August) suggests that the Nigerian government is restricting the import of agricultural products into the country. This is simply incorrect. To be absolutely clear, there is no ban – or restriction – on the importation of food items whatsoever.

“President Buhari has consistently worked towards strengthening Nigeria’s own industrial and agricultural base. A recent decision sees the central bank maintain its reserves to put to use helping growth of domestic industry in 41 product sectors rather than provide forex for the import of those products from overseas.

“Should importers of these items wish to source their forex from non-government financial institutions (and pay customs duty on those imports – increasing tax-take, something the Financial Times (FT) has berated Nigeria for not achieving on many occasions) they are freely able to do so.

“Diversification of forex provision towards the private sector and away from top-heavy government control, a diversification of Nigeria’s industrial base, and an increase in tax receipts – are all policies one might expect the Financial Times to support.

“Yet for reasons not quite clear, the author and this newspaper seem to believe the president’s administration seeks to control everything – and yet do so via policies that relinquish government control.

“We look forward to the next instalment of Mr. Munshi’s bizarre and puzzling article series,” he stated.

Last week, Buhari directed the CBN to stop providing foreign exchange for the importation of food into the country due to steady improvement in agricultural production and the need to attain food security in the country.

He said that foreign reserves would be conserved and utilised strictly for the diversification of the economy and not for encouraging more dependence on foreign food import bills.