All the buyers accessed the grains from the Point of Sale (POS) with their Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and NIN. FG commences sale of 50kg rice to Kaduna journalists at N40,000...TAP TO READ THE FULL CONTENT | TAP TO READ THE FULL CONTENT
The Federal Government has commenced selling milled rice to staff of various media organisations in Kaduna at a subsidised rate of N40,000 per 50kg bag.
The exercise, according to the federal government is meant to ameliorate the prevailing food crisis and cushion the effects of the high cost of food commodities in the country.
The media outlets were allocated 149 bags and every buyer was screened by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for transparency and accountability.
Each member of the fourth estate of the realm was entitled to one 50kg bag, while, civil servants from different ministries and associations also got their allocation at their respective offices.
All the buyers accessed the grains from the Point of Sale (POS) with their Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and NIN.
Speaking on behalf of media organisations in Kaduna, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna State Council, Hajiya Asma’u Halilu, expressed gratitude to the federal government for subsidising the rice at N40,000.00 per bag.
Halilu said: “Comparing this price to the soaring market price, one has no option but to thank the government for the supply of the rice.”
She, however, advised the federal government to endeavour to make the exercise a continuous process, to enable those who did not enjoy the current consignment to do so on the subsequent one.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, had earlier revealed in Abuja during the flag-off of the exercise that the kind gesture was made possible at the expense and directives of President Bola Tinubu.
“We do not want Nigerians to go to bed hungry, and in his wisdom, the president deemed it important to initiate the food intervention,” he said.
The minister noted that the present challenges were not peculiar to Nigeria, adding that the food intervention was timely considering the hard times and challenges the nation and its citizens were having.
He therefore urged the citizens to cooperate with the relevant agencies of the government to work together to ensure that the dream of the present administration to uphold the fundamental right to food for all Nigerians “is achieved.”
