The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Friday explained its planned restriction of foreign exchange (FOREX) allocation for the importation of milk into the country.
The CBN said ”there is neither a plan nor a decision to ban the importation of milk into the country,” an act it said it had no legal power to take.
The clarification followed last Tuesday’s announcement by the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, that there was no going back on its planned policy to restrict FOREX allocation to importers of milk.
At the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting for July, the official said the CBN was determined to go ahead with the policy to help conserve between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion the country spends on the importation of milk every year.
Reiterating the objective of the planned policy, the CBN clarified that the importation of milk into the country was not banned.
For over 60 years, the CBN noted that “Nigerian children, and indeed adults, have been made to be heavily dependent on milk imports.”
The bank’s statement is reproduced below.
“The national food security implications of this can easily be imagined, particularly, when it is technically and commercially possible to breed the cows that produce milk in Nigeria.
“About three years ago, we began a policy to encourage backward integration to conserve foreign exchange and create jobs for our people.
“Included in this policy package was the introduction of the highly successful policy which restricted the sale of FOREX from the Nigerian foreign exchange market for the importation of some 43 items goods that could be produced in Nigeria.
“Arising from the success of the restriction policy, we approached some milk importers, as we did for rice, tomato, and starch and asked them to take advantage of CBN’s low-interest loans to begin local milk production instead of relying endlessly on milk imports.
“Today, although there have been some successful attempts at producing milk locally, the vast majority of the importers still treat this national aspiration with imperial contempt.
“For the avoidance of doubt, milk importation is not banned. Indeed, the CBN has no such power. All we will do is to restrict the sale of FOREX for the importation of milk from the Nigerian foreign exchange market.
“We wish to reiterate that we remain ready and able to provide the needed finance to enable investors who genuinely want to engage in milk production.
“The ongoing resort to blackmail and undue politicisation through the use of social media attacks can only serve to strengthen our resolve to wean our country from the clutches of powerful and highly influential traders and dealers who have kept the masses of our people hostage to foreign consumption and condemned our youths to perpetual unemployment.
“We call on Nigerians to enlist in this vanguard to take our economy back from vested interests, make our country a productive economy and create jobs for our teeming youths,” the CBN said.
