Government has concluded plans to release at least 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains to Nigerian families to avert a looming food crisis.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, made the statement at the maiden edition of Ministerial Press Briefings in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to him, the President Bola Tinubu administration feels concerned about the high coat of food produce in the country and is working hard to made food available, affordable and accessible.
Flanked by his Information and National Orientation counterpart, Mohammed Idris Malaga, Kyari explained that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is deeply concerned about rising coat food items and was determined to bring such down by making essential food prpduce readily available to Nigerians at affordable prices.
He noted that part of the measures being taken was to make available 42,000 metric tonnes of such grains available at affordable price, stressing that the modality for the distribution is being concluded with some agencies like the were being worked out with the Department of State Security Services (DSS) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) providing needed statistics.
He said the grains to be released from different locations in the country so as to make the process seamless and successful.
He added that the ministry has adopted various measures to produce more food so that the country would no longer experience food shortage and high prices in the future.
Among the strategies is the involvement of state governors in identifying farmers who would be benefitting directly from some interventions to enable them to produce more food, stressing that fears being expressed in some quarters on the mismanagement at that level would be addressed to avoid ‘political farmers’ hijacking the process.
In addition, the Minister said about 120,000 hectares of land is to be cultivated with wheat, while 150,000 farmers are expected to cultivate rice in several parts of the country during the year.
On his part, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, who is coordinating the press briefing, explained that the forum was to give opportunity to ministers and the media the opportunity to interact so as to understand what the Tinubu administration was doing to actualise the Renewed Hope agenda.
He said the five pillars of the agenda anchored on to restore trust, amplify policies and programmes, reorient national values, modernize technology and talent and to create enabling environment for the media to operate, were carefully structured to achieve set objectives and urged the media to cooperwte with government to attain maximum results.
“The Ministerial Press Briefing Series (MPBS) that we are kicking off today, are in line with our ‘Restore Trust’ and ‘Amplify Policies and Programmes’ pillars.
“This is a chance for you, the distinguished members of the press, to engage with senior officials of the Federal Government, on behalf of the good people of Nigeria.
“You will hear first-hand about what the Federal Government is doing, policies, programs, targets and objectives, and you will be able to ask questions and receive relevant clarifications.
“We have also made efforts to ensure that this Briefing Series receives the widest possible coverage, through traditional and digital platforms,” he said.
