President Muhammadu Buhari said on Saturday that the priority of his<\/p>\n
administration is to ensure national food security before export of food
\nproducts.<\/p>\n
The President said this while contributing to a Presidential Panel
\nRoundtable on Investment and Growth Opportunities at the opening session
\nof the Africa 2016: Business for Africa, Egypt and the World at Sharm
\nEl-Sheikh, Egypt.<\/p>\n
President Buhari stressed that Nigeria being a mono-economy dependent on
\noil, and with a teeming unemployed youth population, the way out of the
\ncurrent slump in the global oil market, is for the administration to focus
\non agriculture and solid minerals development. \u201cThe land is there and we
\nneed machinery inputs, fertilizer and insecticides,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Reiterating his opposition to the devaluation of the naira, President
\nBuhari said Nigeria cannot compete with developed countries which produce
\nto compete among themselves and can afford to devalue their local
\ncurrencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeveloped countries are competing among themselves and when they devalue
\nthey compete better and manufacture and export more. But we are not
\ncompeting and exporting but importing everything including toothpicks. So,
\nwhy should we devalue our currency?\u201d the President asked.<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cWe want to be more productive and self-sufficient in
\nfood and other basic things such as clothing. For our government, we like
\nto encourage local production and efficiency.\u201d He added that those who
\nhave developed taste for foreign luxury goods should continue to pay for
\nthem rather pressure government to devalue the naira.<\/p>\n
President Buhari, who expressed optimism that Nigeria would get out of its
\ncurrent economic downturn, noted that another major problem militating
\nagainst economic revival is the huge resources deployed towards fighting
\ninsurgency and international terrorism. He, however, commended the support
\nbeing received from the international community in the administration\u2019s
\nfight against terrorism as well as cooperation in tracing looted funds
\nstashed away in foreign countries.<\/p>\n
Responding to a question on his performance since he assumed office, the
\nPresident said that his administration has been quite focused on three
\nfundamental issues of securing the country, reviving the economy and
\nstamping out corruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message on corruption has been driven home vividly and Nigerians are
\nvery acceptable to the message,\u201d he said, adding that those accused of
\nstealing public funds are cooperating by voluntarily providing useful
\ninformation while investigations and prosecutions are ongoing.<\/p>\n
In his opening address at the Forum, the Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah
\nEl-Sisi, said Africa needs to concentrate on transforming into knowledge
\nsocieties using innovation and research. The Presidents of Gabon,
\nEquatorial Guinea, Sudan and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia also
\nparticipated at the Roundtable.<\/p>\n
In his opening message, the President of the African Development Bank
\n(ADB), Akinwumi Adesina, said that \u201cAfrica must think big, act big and
\ndevelop big.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before departing Egypt, President Buhari and his Egyptian host, had a
\nbilateral discussion on security, military cooperation, agriculture and
\nsolid minerals development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari said on Saturday that the priority of his administration is to ensure national food security before export of food products. The President said this while contributing to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n