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‘FG working towards total ban on rice imports by 2018’

By Abubakar Mohammed, Abuja
15 October 2015   |   5:23 am
DETERMINED to encourage the production and consumption of locally produced rice, the federal government is working towards the banning of importation of the product by 2018. Towards attaining the objective, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo held a meeting with some governors of the frontline rice-producing states. The governors that attended the meeting included those of Sokoto…
Bags Of Rice

Bags Of Rice

DETERMINED to encourage the production and consumption of locally produced rice, the federal government is working towards the banning of importation of the product by 2018.

Towards attaining the objective, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo held a meeting with some governors of the frontline rice-producing states.

The governors that attended the meeting included those of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, his Kano, Adamawa, Zamfara, States, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Umar Bindow and Abdulaziz Yari respectively.

Also in attendance were the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele as well as the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Mr. Sunday Echono and officials of the National Planning Commission (NPC).

In a chat with State House correspondent after the meeting the Zamfara state helmsman said the meeting was on the new policy on agriculture and food sustainability.

The governor noted that Nigeria has great potentials to produce the quantity of rice requirement for the country, noting that all that was lacking was the political will to take policy that would ensure that local producers were protected.

According to him, “we discussed how we could boost rice production in Nigeria and start thinking about how we are going to put policy in place on how rice importation will be banned in the country.

“We have the potential; we have the human resources; we have the arable land to grow rice. In the next two years, we will not need to bring rice from outside Nigeria. We are going to ban it.

“We discussed the policy with the relevant permanent secretaries and CBN governor. The policy is going to be in place and we gave our commitment that we are ready to support the government policy in ensuring that Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in food production in the next two years. It is only in Nigeria, a country of millions of people, that there is no food security.

The governor dispelled claims by some officials of the past administration that Nigeria had already started exporting rice, saying that, currently Nigeria was a major importer of rice.

But he added, “now, the political will is in place to stop it. We in about nine states are going to be seriously engaged in massive rice production. We are hoping that in the next two years, rice importation into Nigeria will be banned. We are committed and the political will is in place.”

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