CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has disclosed plans to reduce wheat importation by 60 per cent by 2023. Emefiele spoke in Gombe on Thursday at the launch of the 2020 wet season harvest aggregation and the second cycle of the 2020 dry season distribution for the North East region under the CBN-RIFAN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. “The bank is committed to improving local production of wheat and reducing importation by 60 percent over the next two years,” he said. He said there was no need to panic over the current prices of major staple food items, assuring that the prices will moderate in due course. n a statement titled ‘Emefiele salutes Nigerian farmers, warns hoarders, smugglers’, he commended the resilience of farmers in Nigeria who continued to farm to ensure food sufficiency in the country, in spite of the challenges of insecurity in some parts of the nation. He warned hoarders and smugglers of products such as rice to desist from such practices, stating that the bank was working with relevant agencies to ensure the stability of food prices in the country.