Head of Nigerian Federal Government, President Muhammadu Buhari

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President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian Federal Government bans the importation of food items and fertilizer

… says agriculture is the answer to creating millions of direct and indirect job opportunities

President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian Federal Government has banned the importation of food items and fertilizer as the Federal Government rolls out the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) and sets a goal for National Food Security, according to a media report.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) “not to issue a kobo” of the country’s reserves for the importation of food items and fertilizer.

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At a meeting of the National Food Security Council at the State House, Abuja, President Buhari restated his earlier verbal directive to the apex bank, saying he will pass it down in writing that “nobody importing food should be given money.”

Highlighting the need to increase local agricultural production, President Buhari said that the number of fertilizer blending plants now working in Nigeria has risen from only 3 to 33, insisting that we would not pay a kobo of our foreign reserves to import fertilizer but we rather empower local producers.

Furthermore, the Nigerian President Buhari also directed that blenders of fertilizer should convey products directly to state governments so as to skip the cartel of transporters undermining the efforts to successfully deliver the products to users at reasonable costs.

President Buhari, according to a Presidency statement, advised private businesses bent on food importation to source their foreign exchange independently, further urging them to use their money to compete with the farmers rather than using foreign reserves to bring in compromised food items to divest the efforts of our farmers.

The Nigerian President reiterated that the country has a lot of able-bodied young people willing to work and agriculture is the answer.

Among others, the Minister highlighted that the government will facilitate the cultivation of 20,000 to 100,000 hectares of new farmland in every State and support off-take of agro-processing to create millions of direct and indirect job opportunities.

The meeting, chaired by the President with other key members of the Council in attendance, was briefed on the food security situation prevailing in the country.

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