The Nigerian government has begun selling 30,000 metric tonnes of milled rice to Nigerian public servants with duly registered National Identification Numbers (NINs) to curb racketeering.
The move is part of efforts to crash food prices in Nigerian markets.
President Bola Tinubu disclosed at the flag-off of the event that the intervention will be strictly one man, one bag, or one woman, one bag.
The President said the rice would be sold at a flat rate of N40,000 per 50kg bag. This is the Nigerian government’s intervention to subsidise milled rice and ease the prevailing food crisis in Nigeria.
Tinubu said:
Tinubu applauded the government’s efforts to release the 42,000MT of assorted foof commodities (AFC) to vulnerable people and the 30,000MT of milled rice for sale at a cheaper rate to Nigerians.
The minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, blamed COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, climate change and other local challenges for the high cost of food prices.
BusinessDay reports that the minister said the factors have led to an increase in the risk of food insecurity and a general decline in the standard of living globally.
Kyari added that the Nigerian government is aware of the potential challenges of selling essential staples such as rice in a critical period.
He said the government has deployed multidisciplinary machinery measures and established processes and conditions to ensure transparency, a wider reach, and the exercise’s success.
The director of food and strategic reserves of the Agriculture ministry, Haruna Sule Abutu, outlined the procedure for buying rice.
Abutu said that Nigerians must have a National Identification Number (NIN) and a phone number to be eligible, and those registered in public service under the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) platform can purchase the rice.
He said anyone with any of the three requirements at the point of sale, including a valid NIN logged into the system, will receive a code to buy the rice.
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported that the Nigerian government has already started implementing the 150-day duty-free imported window directed by President Bola Tinubu.
The move will allow Nigerians to import essential food items into the country to tame the rising food inflation.
According to the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigerian government will forfeit about N187 billion on import duty during the policy period.
Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at TimesNow.com.ng
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
