The Federal Government on Saturday inaugurated a mini milk collection centre in Tassa Village in Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area of Kano State.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono, said that the centre would alleviate the plight of milk sellers and improve their business.
The Federal Government on Tuesday said it would exempt 10 food items, including milk, table water, barley and sorghum among others from the 7.5% Value Added Tax (VAT) increase it proposed in early September.
President Muhammadu Buhari made this known on Tuesday in its 2020 Appropriation Bill presented to a joint session of the National Assembly.
The Federal Government has denied request by Guinness Nigeria Plc, Promasidor Nigeria Limited and thirteen other firms seeking tax relief, also known as “Pioneer status” under the Industrial Development Income Tax Act.
Pioneer status is a tax incentive from the Federal Government which exempts companies from income tax for a period of time. It is also known as a tax holiday and is meant to encourage investments in new industries or products that do not already exist in the country.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will stop providing foreign exchange for the importation of cassava, starch, ethanol and all other derivatives into Nigeria.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, spoke on the new policy directive while meeting with some state governors in Abuja to discuss cooperation in the area of economic diversification, job creation and poverty reduction.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given a new directive to commercial banks to stop providing loan facilities to milk importers in the country.
In a circular to banks on Tuesday, the CBN said milk imports will no longer be eligible under payment terms known as “bills for collection” which allowed the importer to buy on credit. Instead, importers would need to fund their naira accounts and open letters of credit, bankers said.
The Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) has called on the Federal Government to go into talks with the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and other concerned stakeholders in the food industry in a bid to find lasting solutions to the government’s plan to restrict foreign exchange on food imports.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will soon place foreign exchange (forex) restrictions on milk importers into the country.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele expressed sadness that the country spends between $1.2bn and $1.5bn on milk imports yearly.
“We can no longer continue to spend close to $1.2bn to $1.5bn, importing milk into the country, a product we can produce. To some extent, they (milk importers) should help us also to reduce the rate of herders, farmers conflict,” he said.
The Federal Government is said to be considering placing a ban on the importation of milk into the country.
The Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who disclosed this to the media in Abuja on Tuesday following the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, said the Federal Government would soon put restrictions on the importation of milk to the country.
The CBN Governor disclosed that the importation of milk gulps up between $1.2bn and $1.5bn annually, adding that it was unacceptable.
The Federal Government on Sunday said that the proposed cattle ranches it had agreed to set up with 10 states across the country is not solely for Fulani herdsmen.
According to the government, the scheme which will cost N70bn in the first phase (1 to 3 years) will be for any person who is interested in grazing his cattle in any of the facilities in the 10 states where the pilot scheme will start.
A group known as the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum has rebuffed the Federal Government’s plan to spend N179bn to set up ranches across the country for herdsmen in 10 years, starting with a N70bn budget under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
