*Plans to release food items from strategic reserves
The Presidency on Tuesday night convened a meeting special presidential committee to address the issue of food shortages and inadequate food on the table of most Nigerians.
This follows a directive from President Bola Tinubu, who is still on a private visit to France, that government needs to step in to stem the tide of hunger in the land.
The meeting held at the Aso Rock Villa was convened under the auspices of the Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention and it was presided over by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajiabiamila.
Consequently, food and grain reserves kept by the Ministry of Agriculture will be releases to Nigerians to ameliorate pangs of hunger being experienced by the most vulnerable.
It resolved that “Government will not fold its arms and see the way Nigerians are suffering in terms of the availability of these food items”, said Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammed Idris, who briefed State House correspondents afterwards.
According to he Minister: “This is just the beginning of that meeting. It is going to continue tomorrow and day after tomorrow.
“The government is very concerned about what Nigerians are going through, especially what has happened in Minna yesterday, and therefore government is taking some action to ensure that Nigerians have some relief in terms of the availability of food on the table.
“Of course, this meeting is not by itself exhaustive. It’s just like I said, the beginning. It is going to continue tomorrow and the day after.
“Now, some of these will involve unlocking the foods that are available in most of the storage facilities (National Food Reserve) around the country.
“You know that the Federal Minister of Agriculture has some food reserve. That is going to be made available to Nigerians.
“The government is also talking to major millers and major commodity traders, to also see what is available in their stores; to open them up, so that government will provide some intervention, discuss with them provide some intervention to make this food available to Nigerians.
“What the government is noticing is that actually there is still food in this country. Some people are taking advantage of the situation especially because of the high cost, the depreciation in the value of our currency that has led to the cost of these food items also going up.
“So all these issues were discussed. The governor of central bank was here. The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy is in that meeting.
“Of course, the Chief of Staff, the National Security Adviser, because he also has some national security implications. So all these have been discussed. And like I said, this conversation or discussion is going to to continue.
“What I will tell Nigerians is that the President has directed that government needs to step in to stem this tide.
“Government will not fold its arms and see the way Nigerians are suffering in terms of the availability of these food items.
“So 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 is in sight for Nigerians.
Asked if there is there any immediate action following the meeting, Minister Idris replied: “Some of them are dependent on the follow-up meeting on all this hardship. The government is stepping in a big way to ensure that Nigerians have succour going forward”.
