Why Nigeria Is Cutting Down On Food Importation, Says Osinbajo | WakaWaka Reporters
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Why Nigeria Is Cutting Down On Food Importation, Says Osinbajo

Foreign exchange constraints and the availability of arable land in Nigeria makes the case for improved local agricultural production in Nigeria an imperative, rather than continued importation with its significant pressure on dwindling foreign earnings of the country.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo,  gave this explanation yesterday while receiving in his office a Russian delegation led by the Russian Minister of Agriculture who is also the Co-Chair of the Nigeria-Russia Joint Commission, Mr. Alexander Tkachev.

“The oil prices have gone down tremendously and yet large amount of foreign exchange is used to purchase food abroad and we have large arable land for agric. It won’t make sense, if you don’t use the land,” according to the vice president.

According to a statement by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, Prof. Osinbajo then invited Russian farmers to invest in Nigeria, produce and import from here, saying “we are just 6 hours away from Europe by air. Vegetables, flour can be exported to Europe from here, even our local market here is a lot.”