Buhari Reverses Self, Admits Nigeria Yet To Achieve Food Security
More than one year after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop approving forex for food importation because Nigeria had attained food security, the president has contradicted himself on the claim.
THE WHISTLER had reported that during the 2019 El-el-Kabir celebration in Daura, Katsina State, Buhari had ordered the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, not to give a cent to importers of food into the country.
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Presidential aide, Garba Shehu, had quoted Buhari as saying: “Don’t give a cent to anybody to import food into the country,’’ adding that, “We have achieved food security, and for physical security we are not doing badly.’’
Shehu had quoted the president as making the statement when he hosted governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his hometown.
The president had said that the directive was aimed at conserving the country’s foreign reserves and to enable strict utilization of forex for diversification of the economy.
But in a tweet on Tuesday, Buhari revealed that he had, “flagged off the National Young Farmers’ Scheme, designed by the newly-revived National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), as part of our efforts to expand and modernize agriculture in Nigeria, and also increase opportunities for youth participation.”
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He added that, “I have directed that all NALDA’s abandoned farm estates be retrieved to enable thousands of our young men and women to be engaged in modern, mechanized farming. I am confident that, under my watch, Nigeria will achieve food security; we will produce most of what we eat.”
