The Federal Government announced on Wednesday that it had begun distributing 42,000 metric tons of various grains as part of its relief package for Nigerians.
The announcement comes about two weeks after the Presidency stated that the grains were being bagged for distribution.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, said, “Distribution has commenced” during a briefing with State House correspondents following the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
As a temporary response to the country’s growing food crisis and the increasing prices of goods, President Bola Tinubu, on February 8, ordered the immediate release of 102,000 metric tons of various grain types from the Strategic Reserve and the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, shared this with State House correspondents after the final stage of a three-day meeting of the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention at the Villa.
Discussions started in earnest after angered youths and women took to the streets of Minna, the Niger State capital, and Kano to protest what they described as the rising cost of living in the country.
Similar protests also broke out in Ondo State.
Providing updates on Wednesday, Kyari, who said he couldn't give details of his office’s activities regarding distribution for security reasons, mentioned that they were working with the Office of the National Security Adviser and other security groups to address the risk of transportation and prevent looting en route.
“We are delivering to state capitals initially due to the risk involved in the vandalism of food. So, we are collaborating with the office of the National Security Adviser and other national security agencies.
“Distribution has begun, but I prefer not to comment on the security aspect of the distribution.
“I can assure you that we have started distributing in the northwestern states, and we are delivering from seven points,” he said.
Kyari also pledged to establish a strong distribution system for the 2.15 million bags of fertilizer, which the Central Bank of Nigeria handed to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on the President's directives.
The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, presented the N100m worth of fertilizers to Kyari earlier that day (on Wednesday).
Cardoso explained, “We will also ensure that the fertilizer reaches the intended farmer to the last mile. We've been complaining about portfolio farmers, a list that is not verifiable. But for the rice season, we are able to as much as possible, clean up that data and work with the subnationals and the local governments to come up with a list.
“What we did was initially, we identified the land because the land must be there for you to become a farmer. So you don’t identify a farmer without a land. You identify the land and then identify the farmers that are on that land. We were able to do this as much as possible.
The President has promised us that we will improve our data collection system after we harvest the upcoming wheat in the next few weeks.
