Can Nigeria's Buhari take on the import monster and win?

Godwin Emefiele, the governor of Nigeria’s central bank, has been criticised in recent weeks for attempting to prop up the value of the naira, the country’s currency, by restricting access to foreign exchange and banning imports of certain goods. In the absence of a clear economic strategy from the country’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Emefiele is taking an increasingly central role in determining Nigeria’s industrial policy. His tactics sound familiar. As this article from The Economist archives shows, Nigeria has pursued a protectionist policy like this before, in 1984—under Muhammadu Buhari, a young general who had won the presidency in a coup on December 31 1983.