Nigeria to ban rice importation in 2017 – Yari

Alhaji Abdulazeez Yari,

Zamfara State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Alhaji Abdulazeez Yari, has said Nigeria will ban importation of rice  in the next two years (2017).

Yari, who briefed State House Correspondents on Wednesday in Abuja after a meeting of governors of the front line states producing rice in the country said Nigeria would have attained self-sufficiency in food production by then.

According to him, the meeting which held at the Vice President’s wing of the Villa discussed the new policy on agriculture and food sustainability.

He said: “We discussed how we can boost rice production in Nigeria and start thinking about how we are going to put policies in place on how rice importation will be banned in the country.
“We have the potential; we have the human resources; we have the arable land to grow rice.

“In the next two years, we will not need to bring rice from outside Nigeria. We are going to ban it.

“It is only in Nigeria, a country of millions of people, that there is no food security.
“We discussed the policy with the relevant permanent secretaries and the CBN governor.  “The policy is going to be in place and we gave our commitment that we are ready to support the government policy in ensuring that Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in food production in the next two years.

“Nigeria is currently a major importer of rice. Now, the political will is in place to stop it. We in about nine states are going to be seriously engaged in massive rice production.
“We are hoping that in the next two years, rice importation into Nigeria will be banned.  We are committed and the political will is in place.”