The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, has said Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis is caused by an unproductive economy.
Naija News reports that Governor Otti said if Nigeria were a productive country, the federal government’s foreign exchange policy would not have had severe harsh effects on the economy and citizens livelihood.
In an interview with Arise News, the Labour Party Governor said his administration was working to provide an enabling environment for investors to produce.
“What we are doing to create an environment where productivity will happen,” he said.
Governor Otti noted that, except for crude oil, Nigeria exports almost nothing and imports everything, including toothpicks and bottled water.
He decried that Nigeria currently imports palm oil even though Malaysians took the palm kernel from the Abia State Capital, Umuahia.
“Part of the problem with exchange rate is because we are not producing much. It is because we are not exporting anything other than oil. It is because we’re importing everything from the profane to the profound.
“We import toothpicks, we import bottled water, should we be doing that? So that posed a lot of pressure on the foreign exchange market. And it until we reverse, until we produce. Do you know how much we spend importing food, palm oil that Malaysians took from here in Umuahia?” Otti stated.
He further disclosed that his administration has engaged with a private company to address food imports, including palm oil.