It also announced that the Department of State Services and the National Emergency Management Agency had been engaged in the distribution process to ensure that the commodities get to the targeted citizens nationwide.
It disclosed this through the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, at a ministerial press briefing in Abuja.
Last week, President Tinubu directed the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to release about 42,000MT of maize, millet and other commodities from the national strategic reserves to address the rising cost of food in Nigeria.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this in Abuja after a meeting of the Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention.
Idris also stated that the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria had committed to releasing about 60,000MT of rice to the markets.
“The first one is that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has been directed to release about 42,000MT of maize, millet, garri, and other commodities in their strategic reserve so that these items will be made available to Nigerians; 42,000MT immediately.
“The second one is that we have held meetings with the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria. Those who are responsible for producing this rice and we have asked them to open up their stores.
“They’ve told us that they can guarantee about 60,000 metric tons of rice. They will make that available to Nigerians; to bring out to the market to make food available,” the information minister had told journalists.
Explaining how the 42,000MT grains would be distributed at the press briefing on Wednesday, the Agric minister said it would go to poor Nigerians for free.
Kyari said, “This 42,000MT is going to the needy free of charge. It will be directly to the needy at no cost.”
Asked to state how the government would identify the needy, Kyari replied, “We’ve met with NEMA and DSS to give us the index. These are where to gather intelligence reports on where it is needed the most. And we are going to look at those indices.”
The agric minister insisted that the government would ensure that only those who need the grains benefit from the exercise, adding that state governors had been put on notice about this development.
Details to come…
Okechukwu, a journalist with Punch Newspapers, has 15 years experience covering Energy (Power and Petroleum), Finance, Agriculture, Environment, Humanitarian Services, Works and Housing, Trade and Investment, Capital Markets, Aviation and Transport, ICT, among others
