chucky234: Your points are baseless in present day Nigeria

ballabriggs:


GBAM!!!

Import substitution is for disciplined countries. A government that says its "hands are tied" over petroleum smuggling wants to implement import substitution.

A government that has never implemented over 50% of projects in its budget wants import substitution.

Billyonaire: Your points are ?

ballabriggs:

It is more complex than the infant industry argument. Other factors like a countries domestic capacity is critical to success of a trade policy.

Billyonaire: Seun we can discuss this all night night. I have proofs to the food contamination by the "Superior Race", you need to start listening to people like Louis Farrakhan. Their intention is based on a policy to reduce or weed out the "inferior races" so the innovative race can dominate for ever. Why in essence do you think America can risk all resources to protect Israelites.

Going back to local production of food. Seun, think deeply the implication of this: Should Nigeria become a Lybia or Syria, or even a North Korean and there is Trade Embargo or Economic Sanction against Nigeria, hunger go kill you within3 weeks since you depend 100% on importation of common thing like food. Anyway, I no go mind to see grown up man like you holding plastic plate stand for line fighting to collect food from RED CROSS if you insist on importation. Nigeria needs to go back to the "Operation Feed the Nation" days. Indonesia and Malaysia borrow palm kernel from this country now free oil money has killed agriculture, all man wan dey inside oil/gas and IT and some are becoming celebrities. Agriculture is crying and bushes are turning to forests.

Seun, let me remind you that if the several billions of dollars put into importation was used to buy locally grown food, by now, I sure say u for throw your laptop away and become a CoCoa farmer and I would have thrown my tankers away and become fertilizer manufacturer. We need to grow up. if not, we stand the fail as a nation tomorrow. If we cant grow our own food, we will face famine tomorrow. Mark my words.

olusipimp: i wont blame dt bomboy.....he wants we ppl to start eating cassava bread produced from bayelsa.....isn't dis weird/

pleep: You guys are fools and you don't know anything about economics.
Before u all rushed to attack this, did you think about its positive consequences?

1. Local rice growing creates jobs for Nigerians.

2. It lowers dependence on foreign countries... would u like Nigeria to get embargoed an we all starve?

3. It keeps money in the economy, and in the country.

An importation LovePeddler country like Nigeria will never succeed until we learn to be self sufficient, we need to provide for ourselves. That is the key to economic success. The federal governments approach is a little heavy handed, (i would prefer tariffs on foreign rice) but it is a huge step in the right direction

bayooooooo: Banning importation of a commodity is not a bad policy (I would have preferred an increase in duty to outright ban though). What's bad is not having a good local substitute and lack of enough capacity to offset the net importation.

Billyonaire: I asked for your point, and you talk about trade policy. What has this to with trade. Jesus! I thought u had brains before you stage an argument with me. Dont do this please. Latent ignorance gets me upset.

Seun: This is the kind of Economic idiocy that leads to food shortages and famine all over Africa. The effect of restricting importation of a staple food is that the cost of food will go up. This makes life more difficult for the poor. What kind of devil wants that to happen? Some people who would can currently afford just enough food to avoid starvation will have to die when the importation of rice is banned. For what?

Billyonaire: Up GEJ, FRESH AIR!!!

CHESSBOARD: Abeg make our Anambra Rice plant begin to work make i venture into Rice plantation jo

Seun:
Why? Don't you like cheap food? Would you like to live in a country where only the rich can afford to buy rice?


Really? And you posted it on a public forum? Ok, what stops them from hiring agents to "contaminate" our local foods?


The decision of whether to import or not import should be left to Nigerians. If you want to buy cheap imported rice, you should be free to do so. And if you prefer to eat yams every day, even when they are out of season and therefore expensive, you should be free to do so. But the government should not prevent me from buying cheap rice. The only beneficiaries of such policies are the handful of people involved in agriculture. I suspect that there are many factors responsible for our reliance on imported food. If those factors are resolved, the government won't need to ban anything. On the other hand, if they are not resolved, then an import ban would cause a lot of pain. If the government wants to help, let them find a way to do it without taking away our freedom to import cheap food.

Seun:
Why? Don't you like cheap food? Would you like to live in a country where only the rich can afford to buy rice?


Really? And you posted it on a public forum? Ok, what stops them from hiring agents to "contaminate" our local foods?


The decision of whether to import or not import should be left to Nigerians. If you want to buy cheap imported rice, you should be free to do so. And if you prefer to eat yams every day, even when they are out of season and therefore expensive, you should be free to do so. But the government should not prevent me from buying cheap rice. The only beneficiaries of such policies are the handful of people involved in agriculture. I suspect that there are many factors responsible for our reliance on imported food. If those factors are resolved, the government won't need to ban anything. On the other hand, if they are not resolved, then an import ban would cause a lot of pain. If the government wants to help, let them find a way to do it without taking away our freedom to import cheap food.

the last time I checked the majority of Nigerians supported the move except people like you.

Seun:
How many people can the industry possibly employ? Even if rice production can employ 1% of Nigerians (160,000 people), which is unlikely because large scale mechanised agriculture does not require a lot of workers, in essence you're punishing 160 million Nigerians with expensive food in order to give jobs to less than 1% of the population. Just like we are all currently being punished with expensive accommodation nationwide to benefit the shareholders of Dangote Cement. Punishing the majority to benefit a minority is very undemocratic.

Can you name a single occasion when the citizens of a democratic country were starved because of a food embargo? Such embargoes simply don't happen. Famine and food shortages only occur in the modern world when importation is banned and local production is unable to meet demand due to factors like drought. Food importation provides weather insurance, which is much more important in real life.

Nonsense. We can eat rice, but can we eat the money? What is money good for if you can't buy what you need with it?

Seun:
That's simply not true. The average Nigerian does not want the price of food to go up. The masses would only support such ideas to the extent that they are ignorant of the costs, namely, that such a ban will cause the price of rice and other staples to go up. Once they are informed, they won't support it.