State Governments have been urged to support the Central Bank of Nigeria to boost agriculture by creating enabling environment as means of conserving Foreign Exchange.

A financial expert, Dr. Uche Uwaleke made the call at the
23rd Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors held in Sokoto.

Dwelling on the theme, ‘Enhancing Domestic Production as a Panacea For Growth and Foreign Exchange Conservation” Uwaleke urged the CBN to identify specific imported goods which can be produced locally and provide incentives for small and medium scale enterprises to increase the production of such goods.

According to him, CBN should pay more attention to agriculture in its intervention programmes since its remained the largest employer of labour in Nigeria, adding that a significant percentage of the current demand for forex goes directly to importing agricultural produce.

Speaking on the apex bank forex policy on education abroad, he said that the CBN had not taken strict measures to avoid manipulation of the process by some fraudulent people, who could possibly present fake letters of admission to access foreign exchange.

He urged that the CBN to collaborate with the Ministry of Education to obtain a credible list of recorganizing schools abroad in a bid to tighten the loopholes “so that we don’t return to square one.”

The CBN’s directive on how to access the forex for school fees include to provide admission letter and receipt from the school abroad, and that forex should be provided to only student studying specific courses aboard.

Dr. Uwaleke said the process could be abused, citing the experience in Venezuela.“People could forge admission letters and school receipts to access forex,” he said.