President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the central bank on Aug. 13 to stop dollar supply for food imports, saying food security has been achieved and agricultural production has increased. This came after Governor Godwin Emefiele said in July the central bank plans to cut off dairy importers’ access to foreign exchange in a bid to bolster domestic milk output.
The food price index in Nigeria has risen almost 80% since the start of 2015, pushing inflation above the central bank’s target and putting pressure on households’ finances in a country where about 60% of consumption spending goes to food.
The central bank already restricts access to dollars for the import of 40 kinds of items from cement to soap. In June, the Lagos-based Punch newspaper reported that Buhari instructed the central bank to blacklist companies or individuals caught illegally importing palm oil or other prohibited goods, such as poultry.
Nigeria spent about $1 billion importing food and live animals in the three months to March, according to the statistics agency. Domestic food-supply chains have been disrupted by a decade-long Islamist insurgency in the northeast region. Clashes between herdsmen and farmers have also decimated communities, destroyed crops, killed cattle and forced producers to flee to protective camps in Nigeria’s northern and central regions.