Senate President, Bukola Saraki has rejected a request by the Tomato Sub-sectoral Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), to intervene in the bid to compel the CBN to lift the exemption on certain imported goods and services from the list of items valid for forex in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.
Bukola Saraki
The Tomato Sub-Sectoral Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), recently met with Senate President Bukola Saraki, seeking his assistance in lifting the restriction of access to forex by the Central Bank of Nigeria on imported goods.
They claim they were not against the CBN’s policy restricting forex to some imported items but that they needed time to raise the level of tomato production in the country to eliminate the need for importation.
Saraki replied, saying Nigeria aims to start producing and not importing.
“As a country, we have to chart a new way different from the past, and that path is going into manufacturing as we cannot continue to remain an import dependent country….
"What stops us from producing the tomato to the level of achieving the High Concentrate? You have to be serious in the area of massive investment and research in the sector for government to consider any concession for you,”
This is part of the measures to be implemented by the Nigerian government to revamp the ailing economy due to its over-reliance on crude oil.