Nigerians will benefit from border closure — Minister
Alhaji Mustapha Baba-Shehuri, the Minister of State, Agriculture and Rural Development, says Nigerians would benefit from the border closure policy adopted by the Federal Government.
Baba-Shehuri said this while fielding questions from newsmen on Saturday in Maiduguri.
He described the measure as a right decision that would be of great benefits to Nigerians in view of its positive impacts on social and economic development of the country.
The minister noted that Nigeria as a country could not continue to rely on importation of food commodities to feed its estimated 200 million population.
The minister added that the measure would boost local production and create jobs for more youths and women in the country.
According to him, available statistics indicates that Nigeria consumes 30 per cent of the 100 per cent total food importation in Africa, while over 50 per cent of the food importation to Cameroun, Ghana, Benin, Chad and Niger Republics, targeted Nigerian markets.
Baba-Shehuri said,“We are a nation of 200 million people; there is no nation on earth with the size of our population or even less that rely on importing everything that it will eat, it is absolutely impossible.
“In this country, we even import tomato, cabbage, eggs and everything that we eat.
