Under my watch, ‘rice and beans import has gone down by 90%’- Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said that his administration’s agricultural policies have led to drastic reduction in food importation, claiming, “rice and beans importation into the country have gone down by 90 per cent”.

The president stated this in Abuja when he received the All Progressives Congress (APC) family from Kebbi State in the Presidential Villa.

He stated that Nigeria was now targeting self-sufficiency in food production.

“We are not doing badly in the agricultural sector and Nigerians, and the world, are beginning to appreciate our efforts. We will not be satisfied; we will work harder until we start exporting food.

“We are happy that rice and beans importation into the country have gone down by 90 per cent, and visibly everyone can see how productive states like Kebbi have turned out to be and states like Lagos, Ogun and Ebonyi are following the example,” he said.

He said Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto states had already reported remarkable turnaround in the agricultural sector, with more youths taking interest in entrepreneurship.

The President said he disagreed with the astronomical food import bill presented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from the inception of the administration, pointing out that it was later discovered to be “fraudulent practices’’ by some of the elites to deplete the foreign reserves.

“When I was told that the CBN had no savings after the windfall of selling oil for more than $100 dollars per barrel for many years, and the production was 2.1 billion barrel per day, I did not believe them.

“I did not believe them because majority of Nigerians cannot afford imported food; they rely on what is locally grown. It turned out that 50 per cent of the export bills were fraudulent. That is what the Nigerian elites did.

“Unfortunately, we will not know all that happened because the elites worked in collusion with institutions in developed countries, like insurance firms and other financial outfits, to perpetuate the fraud,” he added.

On security, President Buhari said the return of farmers to their farm lands in the North East, with glaring results of high yields, was a testimony to the relative peace that had been achieved.

He assured that more would be done to check the mayhem of suicide attacks.

The President said his administration will put in more effort to reposition the educational and health sectors to compete with other global institutions.

READ ALSO: ‘Buhari is God-sent and wants a better Nigeria’- Ekiti monarch

In his remarks, the Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu said the APC family was pleased with the performance of the administration in securing the country, reviving the economy and fighting corruption.

Bagudu and members of the delegation, which included the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami and former PDP stalwarts in Kebbi State, also prayed for the quick recovery of the President’s son, Yusuf.

Details of the meeting were made known to newsmen in a statement his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, released after the meeting.

Ebere Ndukwu

 

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