FG May Ban Importation of Rice, Sugar, Others
- By Abimbola Tooki
- Published May 31st, 2011
- News
- Unrated
The federal government has vowed to ban the importation of rice, sugar, fertilizer and other items that can be produced locally as part of the effort to stimulate the nation’s ailing economy even as the United Nations (UN) forecasts brighter future for Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who stated this in Lagos, last week, during a parley with the Nigerian business community, said “my belief is that by 2015, Nigeria has no business importing rice or fertilizer, and we also need to encourage the local production of sugar such that its importation will be a thing of the past.”
To create jobs, the president said government will strongly discourage the importation of goods being locally produced or capable of being produced in the country.
He also disclosed that he would personally chair his National Economic Team, a think-tank aimed at propelling government’s economic and development policy and promised that the new dispensation would reposition Nigeria’s economy in the next decade
The president added that subsidies and waivers, which he said has had much detrimental effect on the economy, would be discouraged, and henceforth, “special consideration and concessions will be granted only to businesses delivering value chains and creating jobs.”
Jonathan assured the business community that the federal government would introduce an appropriate tariff structure that would not be tampered with until 2015 in order to allow for long-term planning by the organised private sector (OPS).
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, special economic adviser to the United Nation’s Secretary General and one of the guest speakers, said Nigeria should be hopeful of a great future of development. “To double gross output like in Japan and Korea, Nigeria needs to attain about seven per cent growth rate, which it has attained, and to double per capita income (income per head), it needs to grow at about nine per cent, which I believe it will attain soon,” Sachs said.
According to him, there are five things working for the country in terms of development, including the facts that reforms are being consolidated on; democracy is being consolidated on and the beginning of the president’s term offers immeasurable opportunities.
The other two factors, according to Sachs are that world markets are on Nigeria’s side and technology is also on the side of the country’s further development.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who stated this in Lagos, last week, during a parley with the Nigerian business community, said “my belief is that by 2015, Nigeria has no business importing rice or fertilizer, and we also need to encourage the local production of sugar such that its importation will be a thing of the past.”
To create jobs, the president said government will strongly discourage the importation of goods being locally produced or capable of being produced in the country.
He also disclosed that he would personally chair his National Economic Team, a think-tank aimed at propelling government’s economic and development policy and promised that the new dispensation would reposition Nigeria’s economy in the next decade
The president added that subsidies and waivers, which he said has had much detrimental effect on the economy, would be discouraged, and henceforth, “special consideration and concessions will be granted only to businesses delivering value chains and creating jobs.”
Jonathan assured the business community that the federal government would introduce an appropriate tariff structure that would not be tampered with until 2015 in order to allow for long-term planning by the organised private sector (OPS).
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, special economic adviser to the United Nation’s Secretary General and one of the guest speakers, said Nigeria should be hopeful of a great future of development. “To double gross output like in Japan and Korea, Nigeria needs to attain about seven per cent growth rate, which it has attained, and to double per capita income (income per head), it needs to grow at about nine per cent, which I believe it will attain soon,” Sachs said.
According to him, there are five things working for the country in terms of development, including the facts that reforms are being consolidated on; democracy is being consolidated on and the beginning of the president’s term offers immeasurable opportunities.
The other two factors, according to Sachs are that world markets are on Nigeria’s side and technology is also on the side of the country’s further development.
