CBN clarifies milk importation ban saga

The rumour which hit the country days ago about the supposed ban of milk importation in the country has been labelled as false by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the basis that it had no power to make such resolutions.

This was made known in a statement by the Central Bank signed by its Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okoroafor. In the press release, the CBN clarified the misconception as its new policy only restricts the sale of forex for milk importation from the Nigerian Forex market.

The press release claimed that the new policy was in the interest of preserving forex savings and ensuring the provision of jobs in the milk industry.

This new policy has been lauded by a former Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry Services in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. John Taiwo. He described the new policy as the ‘way the country should have gone several years ago.’ He also claimed that new companies dedicated to the production of milk in the country such as MILCOPAL, ARLA and L&Z are taking giant strides and as such the country cannot depend on importation of milk. He described the imported milk as ‘synthetic rather than natural milk which would spell ill for the country’s dairy industry.’

Data collected by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics showed that the country expended over 2.2bn NGN on the importation of milk last year.