Nigerian Govt to release food items from Reserves to crash prices
Tinubu’s special panel swings into action
The Federal Government took action Wednesday to combat soaring food costs in the country, directing the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention to intervene immediately.
The government assured Nigerians that there was no food scarcity, but said that saboteurs were taking advantage of the Naira’s fall to raise food prices.
Femi Gbajabiamila, President Bola Tinubu’s chief of staff, and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu called the meeting at the President’s request.
On Monday, women and youths with placards took to a main route in Minna, Niger State, to protest the high cost of food.
The demonstrators urged political leaders to save them from famine.
Governor Umar Bago, on the other hand, accused a cartel of sabotaging food supplies in order to drive up prices.
Bago claimed that the Federal Government was aware of the cartel’s actions and that its members’ goal was to generate hunger and provoke the people.
While the Minna protest was ongoing, Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf stated that he will meet with the President to discuss the state’s starvation situation.
Following the meeting, Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, stated that food goods would be distributed from the National Food Reserves in order to drive down costs.
Idris added that the government will contact big millers and commodity traders to ensure that the food goods were readily available.
He said: “We just rounded off a meeting. It is a special presidential committee to address the issue of food shortage or lack of enough food on the table of most Nigerians.
“What I will tell Nigerians is that the President has directed that government needs to step in to stem this tide. Government will not fold its arms and see the way Nigerians are suffering in terms of the availability of these food items.
“Now, some of these will involve unlocking the foods that are available in most of the storage facilities (National Food Reserve) around the country. You know that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has some food reserves. They are going to be made available to Nigerians.
“The government is also talking to major millers and major commodity traders, to also see what is available in their stores. To open it up, so the government will provide some intervention, discuss with them and provide some intervention to make this food available to Nigerians.
“What the government is noticing is that there is still food in this country. Some people are taking advantage of the situation, especially because of the high cost and the depreciation in the value of our currency that has led to the cost of these food items also going up.
“All these issues were discussed, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(Yemi Cardoso) was at the meeting. The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy (Wale Edun) was there and of course, the Chief of Staff and the National Security Adviser were there. The NSA was there because of some national security implications.
“All these have been discussed and like I said, this conversation or discussion is going to continue.”
The minister also assured that the government would continue to take steps to ameliorate the current situation.
He said: “This is just the beginning of that meeting. It is going to continue tomorrow(today) and the day after tomorrow. The government is very concerned about what Nigerians are going through, especially what happened in Minna yesterday (Monday). Government is taking some action to ensure that Nigerians have some relief in terms of the availability of food on their tables.
“Of course, this meeting is not by itself exhaustive. It’s just like I said, the beginning.
“ I want to plead with you to understand with the government. By the time these meetings are concluded, we’ll be able to issue a definite statement on what the position of government is in this regard. But all I can say is that discussions are ongoing, and very soon a solution will be in sight.
Asked if there were any immediate actions, Idris replied: “Some of them are dependent on the follow-up meeting on this hardship. The government is stepping in a big way to ensure that Nigerians have succour.”