With a dwindling foreign reserve, the Federal Government has been advised to restrict the sale of foreign exchange (forex) to only importation of very essential commodities, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Cocoa Association of Nigeria, and President, Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr Victor Iyama, has said.
According to Iyama, this will enable the government to better manage the nation’s revenue, as well as checkmate frivolous importation of items that are of little or no value to the economy.
“If we are really going to manage the economic situation, then we should restrict forex allocation to essential items,” he said, adding that government‘s forex should not be used to import things such toothpick, toilet rolls all those things.
Iyama expressed shock that Nigerians have developed a growing likeness for importing unnecessary items all in the name of the desire to earn forex. “If you want to import palm oil go and source for your foreign exchange. We have enough palm oil in this country and if we don’t have enough supply now, we have enough land for people to invest in palm oil plantations. Why should any responsible government give you foreign exchange from her little to import palm oil,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to take measures to save the economy from collapse. He said government needs to take drastic action to restore the nation’s economic and financial independence. This, he said, should come in the form of rebuilding the nation’s industries, and thereby positioning same to produce most of the needed goods and services for the country, a development that would spin employment opportunities for the country’s unemployed army.
Iyama cautioned against what he termed “out-of-control spending on unnecessary programmes and initiatives financed by foreign debt.” While he said there won’t be any plan to revive the country’s economic and industrial self-sufficiency that will be pain-free, yet, he maintains, there is the need to rejuvenate the economy.
“We need to rebuild the economy. I believe we should plan within our limits. The answer to solving this problem, I believe, is the non-oil export. Basically, agriculture is key sector to look up to for this economic revival because it constitutes 85 per cent of the non-oil revenue earning mix,” Iyama said.