It’s shameful to import toothpick, fish, eggs, sugar, wheat —CBN
yesterday said that importers of rice, cement and
other products will no longer access Foreign
Exchange from CBN, banks and bureaux de change
for such importation.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who
disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja, said
the measure would prevent further depletion of the
country's foreign reserve.
He said the country was spending huge amount to
import things that could be produced locally,
adding that the apex bank would not continue to
support the importation of such items through the
use of the hard earned foreign exchange.
Some of the products include margarine, palm
kernel, palm oil products, meat and processed
meat products, vegetables, private airplanes and
jets, Indian incense, tinned fish, galvanised steel
sheet, roofing sheet and furniture.
He said: "Importers who may want to continue
importing these goods would have to sort their
foreign exchange from their own private sources.
The CBN will continue to be vigilant around this
policy, keep reviewing the list of items as it
becomes comfortable that these items can be
produced locally if we apply ourselves sufficiently.
Emefiele said the CBN was forced to come up with
the new policy to exclude importers of rice and 40
other items from the foreign exchange market in
order to save the nation's economy.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, he said the time
has come for Nigerians to decide what must be
done to realise the much-desired economic
development, rather than making the nation a
dumping ground for other economies of the world.
Warns banks, bureaux de change
According to Emefiele, importers of the listed items
would not be allowed access to foreign exchange
even from the bureau de change and that any bank
or bureaux de change that tried infractions would
be severely punished.
His words: "We will not make foreign exchange
available to such importers from any market. If you
read that circular, it said 'from Nigerian foreign
exchange markets', plural not singular. Foreign
exchange will not be provided by the Central Bank
of Nigeria, the banks or by bureaux de change. If
we find people flouting it, luckily these people we
have mentioned are under our regulation, we know
how to deal with them.
"Sometimes, policy changes are forced on
policymakers as a result of exogenous shocks
beyond their control. While most people do not like
to be forced to do something, one of the hallmarks
of effective policymaking is to be nimble and
responsive when such situations arise.
"In the case of yesterday's (Tuesday)
announcement, I am happy to inform and
underscore that this policy change is in line with
my long-held believe that Nigeria cannot attain its
true potentials by simply importing everything. At
some point, we have to all decide what we really
want for our country, and I believe that the time is
now right for that deep and honest conversation."
He added that CBN's analyses of the nation's
economic situation "compelled us to believe that
we needed to aggressively begin the process of
feeding ourselves by ourselves and producing
much of what we need in this country."
Emefiele noted that the nation was wasting huge
amounts of money importing things that could be
produced locally, a situation, he said, had become
a drain on the nation's Foreign Exchange Reserves.
It's shameful that we have to import toothpick
According to him, "most of you are aware of the
often-quoted number of N1.3 trillion, which is what
we spend on average importing rice, fish, sugar,
and wheat every year.
"I am saying it is shameful that we have to import
toothpick. I am saying that it is shameful for us to
import fish in sauce canned, fish in sauce and
sardine. I am saying it is shameful. Before I was
born palm kernel was taken out of Nigeria and
taken to another country and today we go to that
country and import palm oil. It is shameful.
"It is shameful that items that we used to produce
in this country we now begin to import them. It is
shameful and we need to stop them. That is what
we are saying.
"Only last week, I met the Governor of Kebbi State
and he lamented the unfortunate situation in that
state. Where people, our own farmers, have
committed themselves to producing rice and have
produced paddy and we have paddy glut in Kebbi
State today.
"As I speak, the government has spent its money
buying paddy from the rice farmers, almost close
to 200,000 of paddy rice.
"Aside from that, Kebbi State farmers have
unpurchased paddy rice close to 800,000 tons. And
yet we patronise imported rice. For our benefits,
those rice imported to the country are those that
have spent at least seven years in their stores and
yet we have rice that is produced today in Nigeria
and we are running away from them.
"The only way we can encourage people who are
producing rice to go back to the farms is to do
what we have done today.
"How can we keep complaining about the
depreciation of the naira when all we do as a
people is to import everything from ordinary
Geisha and toothpicks to even eggs? These are
some of the fundamental reasons behind the
bank's recent announcement."
He disclosed that there was already a glut in paddy
rice in parts of the country, especially Kebbi State
where the government had spent huge sums of
money to buy off 200,000 tons from the farmers,
yet they had another 800,000 tons unpurchased.
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