Dr Titus Okunrounmu, a former Director of the Budgetary Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, 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 disclosed this in an interview with NAN on Friday in Ota.
He said that such an initiative would help to stem the inflationary trend in the country.
He spoke against the backdrop of the October inflation figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday in Abuja.
“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 ex-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.