To alleviate the ongoing food crisis in Nigeria, the Federal Government has launched the sale of 30,000 metric tonnes of milled rice to citizens at a subsidized rate of N40,000 per 50kg bag.
However, this initiative comes with a condition: only buyers with a National Identification Number (NIN) will be eligible to benefit from the program.
During the flag-off ceremony on Thursday, President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, emphasized that the rice will be sold on a “one person, one bag” basis to ensure fair distribution.
He stated, “This food intervention can be said to be timely considering the times and challenges we are in as citizens of this great nation.”
Kyari explained that the subsidized rice is part of the Federal Government’s efforts to cushion the effect of high food prices, adding, “As one of the numerous efforts of the present administration to cushion the effect of high cost of food commodities, kindly join me in applauding the immense efforts of the present administration.”
A multidisciplinary government task force has been deployed to prevent fraudulent activities and ensure transparency.
Kyari noted, “Beneficiaries will be verified through identification methods such as the NIN and phone numbers to prevent fraudulent individuals from accessing multiple bags at the expense of other citizens.”
The Director of Strategic Grains Reserve, Ministry of Agriculture, Haruna Sule, elaborated on the process, stating, “To qualify for the one person one bag, you must have a National Identification Number, of course, you have phone numbers and those in public service are all registered under the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) platform.”
Sule explained the step-by-step process:
“Once you have any of these three, at the point of sale, with the NIN logged into the system, a code number and a Treasury receipt will be generated, and with that, the buyer can get to the collection centre and pick up his bag. The receipt will indicate, the time and point of collection to eliminate stampede.”
He further clarified, “At the collection point, you present your code to our officials, and you will be handed a bag of rice.”
The government expects the initiative to crash the price of rice and other food substitutes, with Kyari stating, “It is expected that with the injection of 30,000MT (1000 trucks of 30MT each of this important staple into Nigeria’s food balance sheet, it will not only crash the price of rice but also other closer food substitutes and alternatives.”
