The Federal Government Wednesday promised Nigerians that food items would be released from the National Food Reserves as a measure to lower food prices.
Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, made this statement following the meeting of the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention, convened at the request of President Bola Tinubu.
Idris mentioned that the government plans to engage major millers and commodity traders to ensure the availability of food items. He stated, “We just concluded a meeting of a special presidential committee aimed at addressing food shortages experienced by many Nigerians.”
“The President has directed government intervention to alleviate this situation. The government will not stand idly by while Nigerians suffer from food scarcity,” Idris continued.
“We are planning to unlock the food reserves stored across the country by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to make them accessible to Nigerians,” he explained. “Additionally, discussions are underway with major millers and commodity traders to release their stored food items. The government will intervene and work with them to ensure these foods are made available to Nigerians.”
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However, Idris noted that despite some individuals exploiting the situation, there is still an abundance of food in the country. He remarked, “Some opportunistic individuals are exploiting the situation, particularly due to the high costs and currency depreciation, which have led to increased prices of food items.”
“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.”
Assuring that the Federal Government would continue to take steps to ameliorate the current situation, the Minister 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 said: “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.”
Source: Vanguard