No more foreign exchange for Importers of rice, cement and other products from CBN, banks and bureaux de change —CBN
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.
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.
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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