The Federal Government has flagged off the sales of 30,000 metric tonnes of rice at a subsidized rate of N40,000 per 50kg bag of milled rice across the country. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Senator Abubakar Kyari during the flag of the sales on Thursday at the headquarters of the Ministry said the aim was to cushion the high prices of the the staples in the country......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
The Minister noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not want Nigerians to go to bed hungry, hence the food intervention to cushion the high prices of food
The Minister noted that in the recent past different challenges have distorted food prices, farm yields, and food chains globally and Nigeria is not an exception.
He said these factors have led to increased food insecurity and the general decline in living standards globally. He urged Nigerians to understand that the present challenges are not peculiar to Nigeria alone.
He recalled that in April, the federal government flagged off the distribution of 42,000mt of assorted grains across the country and also planned to work with the Rice Millers Association for the distribution of 30,000mt of rice across the country to cushion the high cost of food and prevailing hunger.
Kyari said that despite the challenges associated with the sails of such important t staple food as rice during this critical period, the government has deployed multi-disciplinary machinery to ensure the transparency and wider reach and success of this exercise.
He said beneficiaries would get one 50kg of rice with their National Identification Number (NIN) and phone numbers to forestall multiple access to this food commodity by fraudulent individuals at the detriment of other citizens.
The Director, Strategic Grains Reserve, Dr Haruna Sule while explaining the process said civil servants can access the grains from the point of sale.
“The point of collection is different from the point of sales and when you get to the collection point, you present your code to our officials and you will be given a bag of rice,” Sule said.
“It may interest us to know that the same person can come but at a different point of sale, given that your NIN has been presented at a different place.
“We intend to have about 5-6 sales points across Abuja and the duration of the distribution will be for the period they can finish sales.”
Sule however noted that the exercise will be carried out across the country.