A whopping 2.41 billion dollars was spent on rice importation in Nigeria within a period of three years 2012-2015, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele disclosed this on Tuesday.
Emefiele who spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting with officials of Paddy Rice Producing states and Rice Value chain investors in Abuja said the apex bank’s decision to ban foreign exchange for importation of rice; fish and other items would not be reversed.
He disclosed that the bank has no plans to reverse the ban, adding that the reason for inclusion of rice in the exclusion list was not far-fetched.
He said, “ Figures available with the CBN show that from the period January 2012 to May 2015, the country had spent over 2.41bn dollars on importation of this commodity.
“Unfortunately, this trend has resulted in huge unsold stock of paddy rice cultivated by our farmers and low operating capacities of many integrated rice mills in Nigeria.”
