About a month after the Federal Government announced that it will send 740 trucks of rice to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in response to food inflation in the country, there are indications that things are not going according to plan. Each state and the FCT was supposed to get 20 trucks, each carrying 1,200 25kg bags of rice, which were to be distributed to the most vulnerable people. 

However, according to a report published at the weekend, some states said they had not received the trucks of rice, including Taraba, Delta, Niger, Plateau, Zamfara and Abia. States that said they had received the consignment of rice include Kwara, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Oyo, Akwa–Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa.

It is unclear why not all the states have received the trucks of rice, about a month after the announcement. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, obviously has a lot of explaining to do. 

Another move by the Federal Government to cushion the hardship arising from food inflation went awry as the authorities announced the suspension of the plan to sell subsidised 50kg bags of rice to civil servants for N40,000. The Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs had earlier supplied information on the procedure for the purchase of the rice, saying it would be sold to “interested public servants in Abuja.”

It is unclear why the sale of the rice was suspended. The development was reported to have affected many civil servants who had registered to buy the rice. There is a need for clarification.

Interestingly, a well-known economist and Executive Director of Financial Derivatives, Bismarck Rewane, alleged that some civil servants bought 50kg bags of rice at N40,000 and resold it at N85,000.  He said: “Our team went into the market… The price of rice coincidentally went up by 3.62 percent to N85,000. This is happening at the time the federal government is selling rice to public servants at N40,000 per 50-kilogram bag.”

Notably, Nigerians continue to complain about the cost of rice, which is a staple. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in April said the average price of 1kg rice (local, sold loose) was N1, 399.34 from N546.76 recorded in April 2023.

Figures released last month by NBS in its Selected Food Price Watch for June 2024 showed that the public outcry over crushing food inflation in the country is not baseless.

For instance, NBS said the prices of tomatoes, beans, and yam rose by about 300 percent in June 2024 from their previous prices in the corresponding period of 2023. These are staple items, and the astronomical increase in their prices suggests that many Nigerians are struggling to survive the food crisis.

Published Date: August 13, 2024