Why Nigeria Cannot Sustain Importation Of Rice- Buhari

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President Muhammadu Buhari has explained that the Nigeria cannot sustain the importation of rice and other food items which it has capacity to produce in commercial quantities.

According to Vanguard, the president, who spoke while launching the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) anchor programme in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi state, informed that the diversification of the economy was a necessity.

President Buhari explained also that the falling oil prices in the international market is one of the major reasons his government is diversifying the economy and intensifying efforts at reinvigorating agriculture.

While recalling that agriculture was the mainstay of the economy before the discovery of oil, the Nigerian leader stressed that all efforts must be employed towards returning the country to its glory days.

“The importance of agriculture in the economy can not be over emphasised. Prior to the advent of oil, our country‎ survived on agriculture production.

“During this period, the economy our sub region was built ‎on agricultural activities and our gross domestic product grew steady.

“The discovery of oil was expected to compliment our agriculture productivity. But we allowed oil to almost completely‎ replaced it. Our current trend at the international oil market had brought to fore the urgent need to diversify both the productive and revenue based of our economy and to conserve our foreign reserve by limiting our appetite for importation of goods that we can easily produce locally,” he explained.

The president’s new confession is in sharp contrast with the recent lift of ban on the importation of rice by the newly-appointed Customs boss, Hameed Ali.

Source: Naij