The Trade Times

SOARING PRICE OF FOREIGN RICE.

Was the Nigeria Central Bank right to bar rice importers from accessing the forex through the official window ?. Rice is the staple food of Nigerians and local production still fell the demand of the over 180 million people.

The 41 imported items included on CBN lists whose importers cannot benefit from CBN forex access due to already dwindling foreign reserves stock.:

1. Vegetable and processed vegetable products,

2. Metal boxes,

3. Cement,

4. Margarine,

5. Palm kernel and Vegetable Oil,

6. Chicken,

7. Eggs,

8. Turkey,

9. Indian incense,

10. Geisha & Sardines - tinned fish in sauce,

11. Private airplanes/jet,

12. Cold rolled steel sheets,

13. Roofing sheets,

14. Wheelbarrows,

15. Head pans and head containers,

16. Tomatoes paste,

17. Enamel ware,

18. Cosmetics,

19. Soap,

20. Plastic products,

21. Rubber products,

22. Steel drum,

23. Steel pipes,

24. Wire mesh,

25. Steel nails,

26. Wire rods,

27. Security wire,

28. Wood particle,

29. Wood board,

30. Wood fiber boards,

31. Wood fiber panel,

32. Plywood board,

33. Plywood panel,

34. Wooden doors,

35. Toothpicks,

36. Glass and glassware,

37. Kitchen utensils,

38. Tableware,

39. Tiles,

40. Wooden fabrics

41. Rice

Why did CBN suspend foreign currency funding for the 41 imported items importation into Nigeria?

1. CBN considered them as sources of strain on the already dwindling foreign reserves stock in Nigeria.

2.CBN said the implementation of the policy would go a long way to conserve the nation’s hard earned foreign exchange and boost local production activities in the country.

3. With CBN exclusion lists to funding from the official foreign exchange (forex) market, it will reduce pressure on the naira and preserve the country’s external reserves.

NIGERIANS need to review how to produce the above listed items locally.

HOW?

A. From Agro-allied - Farming Plantations - Palm kernel and Vegetable Oil, Vegetable and processed vegetable products, Rice, Tomatoes paste.

B. Rubber Tree (Hevea brasiliensis) - Rubber Products

C. Animal husbandry - Chicken, Turkey, Eggs, Fishes, and tinned fish in sauce.

D. From Forestry and Saw milling and Furniture Works -

a. Wood particle,
b. Wood board,
c. Wood fiber boards and panel,
d Plywood board and panel,
e. Wooden doors,
f. Toothpicks,
g. Wooden fabrics
h. Wooden doors

E. From Locally Available Raw Materials

a. Limestone - Cement

b. White Sands - Glass and glasswares

F. Iron Ore: Steel drum, Steel pipes, Wire mesh, Steel nails, Wire rods, Security wire, Kitchen utensils, Cold rolled steel sheets, Roofing sheets,Wheelbarrows ,Head pans and head containers

G. Petrochemicals : Plastics Products, Cosmetics and Soap

These 41 items barred from sourcing forex via the official window are the ones sourcing for forex at the black market hence there is an increasing in demand for dollar now but on the long run when some of these items starts local production there will be less importation and less dollar demand.

Thank you and God Bless Nigeria.

Comrade Emmanuel Uchechukwu Ikpo
Entrepreneur & Activist.


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WHY IS THE OFFICIAL FX MARKET NOT GETTING ANY ATTENTION?

We are not getting any news on the official FX market, the commercial banks & what they do with FX they got.

Only parallel FX market news are heared every seconds.
The official FX market is shrouded in secrecy, the bank managers are not telling their customers to come for the FX at the official rate rather they divert it to the black market and allow the black market to control the FX market and our economy.

So bad and something drastic needs to be urgently done on these CABALS (the banks) before it gets out of hand.

May God help us.