President Muhammadu Buhari has scored himself high in the area of rice production, claiming that Nigerians have resorted to consumption of local rice due to his administration’s decision to close the border.
The President made this known in a tweet on Friday night.
Mr. Buhari, however, refrained from disclosing how the price of rice has more than doubled since the closure of borders.
He said, “Because of our policies and investments in the last seven years, towards achieving food security, Nigeria is today much better prepared to cope with the inevitable disruptions in global agricultural supply chains occasioned by Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.
“I said we must grow what we eat and eat what we grow. We have always been very conscious of the need to achieve food security in Nigeria, and to encourage our local farmers and rural economies.
“This is a country that was once dependent on foreign rice. Confident that we can grow and eat Nigerian rice, we closed the border to foreign rice, and also put policies in place to support local production. Today Nigerians are eating home-grown rice.
Rice, a basic food commodity has become so exorbitant that most Nigerians are unable to afford it, especially amidst a Naira that is has been in free fall since Buhari assumed office.
Coupled with a dwindling economy marred in trillions worth of debts, insecurity has made it almost impossible for people to access their farms, making the production of the local rice Buhari claims is now the people’s rice of choice, almost impossible to cultivate.
