A former Director of the Budgetary Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Titus Okunrounmu, has advised the Federal government to encourage each of the six geopolitical zones to specialise in the production of one specific food item to curb inflation.
Okunrounmu gave the advice during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, in Ota, Ogu State.
He said the initiative would help to stem the inflationary trend in the country.
Okunrounmu spoke against the backdrop of the October inflation figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday in Abuja, which indicated the country’s inflation rate at 33.88%.
“It is the responsibility of the Federal government to take the lead by encouraging farming, while other Nigerians will follow if we want inflation to disappear.
“If the governments in the six geopolitical zones specialise in the production of one food item, automatically, inflation rate would be reduced to the minimised level.
“In addition, Nigerians need to embark on farming to stem the prices of goods and services, which is reflected in the inflation figure,” he said.
The former CBN director urged the apex bank to finance such programme and tackle bottlenecks militating against access to agriculture funds in the country.
Okunrounmu also appealed to the Federal government to address security challenges, costs of farm inputs and access to credit, among others.