•Kyari, Bagudu hail Cardoso’s intervention
•FG announces commencement of distribution of 42,000 tons of grains in N’West
•To raise $2bn to connect 774 LGAs through fibre optics
Deji Elumoye and James Emejo in Abuja
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, yesterday announced the allocation of 2.15 million bags of fertiliser, worth over N100 billion to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for disbursement to farmers to enhance agricultural production in the country.
Cardoso said the donation was part of the apex bank’s contribution towards amplifying food production capabilities as well as fostering price stabilisation within the agricultural sector amid high food inflation.
In its Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and commodities, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that food inflation increased by 11.10 per cent year-on-year to 35.41 per cent in January compared to 24.32 per cent in January 2023.
Speaking at a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, alongside Minister of Budget and Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, and deputy governors of the apex bank, Cardoso said the central bank’s intervention not only seeks to address the core objectives of the bank, and the ministry of agriculture but also resonates deeply with the livelihoods of all Nigerians, particularly the escalating cost of food in the country.
He said maintaining price stability remained one of the primary mandates of the CBN while food prices are a crucial component of inflation, especially considering that a substantial portion of household expenditure in the country is allocated towards food and non-alcoholic beverages.
The CBN governor, therefore, emphasised the critical need to address food inflation as a pivotal aspect of managing overall headline inflation rates.
He said while the CBN had been implementing comprehensive measures to curb inflation, it was evident that in the short term, inflationary pressures may persist, predominantly driven by escalating food prices.
He said the bank resolved to strengthen collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to mitigate further a surge in food prices going forward.
Cardoso stressed that in alignment with the central bank’s strategic shift towards focusing on its fundamental mandate, the apex bank has veered away from direct quasi-fiscal interventions and transitioned towards leveraging conventional monetary policy tools for executing monetary policies effectively.
He said: “In this light, we aim to extend our support and foster closer ties with Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) with the mandate and expertise to undertake these critical initiatives.
“Consequently, we aim to enhance our partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, bolstering your endeavours to enhance food productivity and security, ultimately curbing food inflation and fortifying our pursuit of price stability.
“My team and I reiterate our unwavering commitment to prioritising price stability and instilling confidence in the Nigerian economy by upholding consumer price stability and ensuring a balanced foreign exchange market.”
He said despite the prevailing challenges posed by inflation and currency depreciation, the CBN remained resolute in its determination to surmount these obstacles.
He pointed out that while transient inflationary pressures may persist, the central bank anticipates substantial alleviation by the third quarter of 2024, coupled with diminished exchange rate strains.
He said: “Our resolve lies in implementing policies that cultivate a resilient macroeconomic environment and enhance the welfare of all Nigerians.”
Responding to the gesture, Kyari, expressed profound appreciation to President Bola Tinubu and the CBN governor on behalf of the Nigerian farmers “for giving us this wonderful gift”.
He further assured that the donation would be judiciously utilised and delivered to the last mile to reach the intended farmers who would no doubt appreciate the huge support.
The minister also said farmers would in turn cultivate and produce more to stem the galloping food inflation currently affecting the country.
“I must say that we have had a challenging period within the last eight months, it’s been challenging for us here in the ministry and for some reasons beyond our control.
“Right from the era of COVID-19, food prices and food cultivation have been impacted in Nigeria. And thereafter, in 2021/2022, we had the massive flooding that took place around the country as well as the impact of climate change,” he said.
Kyari added that CBN’s Naira redesign policy further impacted agriculture especially the rural low-income farmers as well as insecurity which also impacted agricultural production.
However, he said: “But I am happy to say that those things that I have mentioned are on the decline – insecurity is on the decline and we are also mitigating climate change by incentivizing farmers to go into dry season agriculture.”
He stressed the need for irrigation infrastructure to ensure all year-round farming which he said, remained more secure than that of the wet season.
On his part, Bagudu, also commended the central bank governor and his team, for demonstrating that the bank remained committed to strengthening collaboration with MDAs that contribute to achieving the objectives of the CBN.
He said the fertilisers would go a long way in supporting the food security objectives of the current administration.
The minister said Nigeria was not alone in the challenges of the moment, adding that globally rising food prices had been mostly a result of energy costs.
“We have seen farmers demonstrating in India, Brussels, and the rest. But that we are not alone is not comforting,” he said.
He said the CBN’s gesture was quite commendable and a step in the right direction.
Bagudu also expressed confidence that the fiscal and monetary policy so far taken has shown that the government strategy is working.
He said the nearly N1 trillion appropriation to agriculture in this year’s budget further demonstrated Tinubu’s determination to ensure that the economy is diversified.
However, analysts who spoke to THISDAY hinted that the fertilisers donated to farmers were probably residues from the famous Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP) implemented by the previous leadership of the apex bank.
The ABP, which had been bad-mouthed by the current administration – led to the famous revolution in local rice production in the country and enhanced farmers’ access to affordable financing among others.
The source who claimed anonymity, disclosed that over N200 billion worth of fertiliser had been procured under the ABP but which were yet to be disbursed, adding that the latest intervention was a leftover of the previous programme.
She added that no fertilisers have been procured under the current regime for distribution to farmers free of charge.
Meanwhile, the federal government has disclosed that the distribution of the 42,000 metric tons of assorted grains promised by Tinubu as part of his administration’s relief package for Nigerians has taken off in the Northwest Zone.
The president had on February 8, 2024 directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to distribute 42,000 metric tons of grains from the nation’s strategic reserves as well as 60,000 metric tons of rice from rice millers association to citizens as a short term response to rising food shortage in the country.
Answering reporters’ questions on Wednesday after this week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by the president, Kyari said distribution had commenced in earnest in the North-west geo-political zone.
Kyari who said he could not give elaborate details of the activities of the ministry with regards to the distribution for security reasons, however, said it is working with the Office of the National Security Adviser and other security outfits to address the risk involved in vandalism of food warehouses across the country.
“We are distributing to state capitals in the first instance as you all are aware the risk involved in the vandalism of foodstuff so we are working with the office of the National Security Adviser and other national security agencies.
“Distribution has commenced, however I will not want to comment on the security aspect of the distribution. I can assure you that we have started distributing in the north-western states, and we are distributing out of seven points,” he stated.
Also speaking to newsmen, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said his ministry was in the process of raising a $2 billion fund to achieve interconnectivity of the entire country through fibre optic network.
Tijani further disclosed that achieving the project total connectivity of the entire length and breadth of the nation, the programme would be covering a stretch of 120,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables, revealing at least states will be part of the pilot stage of the programme.
According to him, the programme is staged to make use of existing facilities in the nation’s communications sector to address the various challenges facing the country, including security.
He said: “So the first thing we’re doing which is being pushed by Mr. President, is leveraging existing infrastructure that we have within NIGCOMSAT, which is the satellite company.
“Most of you know that Nigeria is the only country in West Africa with its with a satellite, but also leveraging the fibre network of Galaxy Backbone to deploy connectivity to all the 774 local government Secretariat. Those who are following that project, which was announced about two three weeks ago, would also see that we’ve actually started the connectivity.
“So a number of local government secretariats in Kogi State are now connected, a number in Zamfara are being connected this week, a number in Imo State are being connected this week. In the next six months, our goal is to reach at least eight of the states within the country to demonstrate the pilot and the goal is to then take it from there and cover the entire country.
“We believe that if these local government secretariat are connected, because they’re the closest form of government, to our people, that we can help them use technology to serve the people better, but also it can enhance security significantly as well.
“The second thing we’re doing, which the president has backed is actually now investment in extending our backbone for connectivity. Again, what drives connectivity in any country is the fibre optic network.
“This is the biggest foundation for connectivity. Nigeria is projected to invest in 120,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable to be able to cover the entire country. At the minutes were at about 35,000 kilometres that the 5000 kilometres.
“We’ve done the numbers working with the best companies in this space. It will cost us less than a billion to complete the deployment of fibre optic cable. And the president is given the go ahead for us to source funds for that.
“So we are in the process of setting up a $2 billion fund, I said it costs less than 1 billion. But the reason why we’re setting up a $2 billion fund is to use the balance to drive down the cost of connectivity in the country.
“We want to ensure that all schools are connected all hospitals in the country, that country that that they are connected, and also all government facilities as well. So we are in the process of setting up this fund.
“We’ve already received significant interest from the African Development Bank (AfDB );who are looking to put about $200 million into this we’ve also were an extensive and deep conversation with the World Bank on this as well.
“The model we’re taking, which is we’re using the special purpose vehicle, is to actually also crowd in investment from the private sector to be able to deploy the fiber optic network that we want to deploy in the country.
“Lastly, is to actually also speak to the work that we’ve been doing with Ministry of Defence. So we are in conversation with the Ministry of Defense to see how we can use enhanced satellite capabilities to help our security agencies to be able to do their work better.”
