Naira May Hit 1000 To A Dollar, Says Minister
Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development[/caption]
Audu Ogbeh, the minister of agriculture and rural development said the demand for foreign goods may push a dollar to N1000.
The minister noted that the consumption of rice was rising and that many people did not know this could be substituted for potato.
He lamented that some Nigerian businessmen demand for 2.5 billion dollars a week for importation of goods and services into the country.
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“The volume of importation of virtually everything into this country is too much.
“The demand for dollars in this country as at today is 2.5 billion a week; this is the quantum of dollars Nigerians are asking for to import things.”
He also said in a bid to save the country’s foreign exchange, the ministry was willing to support local investors with capacity to produce goods.
“Since 1986, we began this habit of importing everything and doing virtually nothing at home to sustain ourselves; now, we do not have the dollars and people are very hungry.
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“This day was coming anyway, no matter who was in power; we have the most ridiculous method of devaluing our currency; every week, we auction the dollar and naira goes up.
“We sat and were hoping that by devaluation, we are going to arrive at Eldorado; if we continue like this, it will be a thousand naira to a dollar.”
“We should aggressively take the West African market; there is no reason why we should allow Irish potato from Ireland and France and Belgium into West Africa; it is the same story with onions,” he said.
