Breaking: President Tinubu Takes Action on Rising Food Prices: President Bola Tinubu has instructed the Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention to act immediately to address the growing cost of food in Nigeria in response to protests in the states of Niger and Kano.
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The revelation was made by Information Minister Malam Mohammed Idris, who said that the government is addressing the problem by releasing food from storage facilities and corresponding with millers and traders.
Following the committee’s Tuesday in Abuja meeting, the minister made this revelation.
On Monday, demonstrators blocked a main road in Niger State as part of their ongoing protest against the state’s rising food costs.
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Additionally, a few ladies in Kano staged a protest last week against the state of Kano’s increased flour prices.
In a Monday meeting with business leaders, Kano Governor Kabir Yusuf pledged to apprise the President of the plight of Nigerians.
Nigeria’s inflation rate has increased to almost 30%, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), mostly due to rising food prices.
President Tinubu was worried about the availability and cost of food in the country, Idris told reporters on Tuesday night.
“The government is very concerned about what Nigerians are going through, especially what happened in Minna yesterday.
“Therefore government is taking some actions to ensure that Nigerians have some relief in terms of the availability of food on the table.”
Idris said the committee meeting would continue until Thursday, adding that certain significant measures are already being considered to ameliorate the deplorable situation.
“Now, some of these will involve unlocking the foods that are available in most of the storage facilities (National Food Reserves) around the country.
“The government is also talking to major millers and major commodity traders to also see what is available in their stores.
“To open it up, so that government will provide some intervention, discuss with them to provide some intervention to make this food available to Nigerians.”
He noted that because food is expensive and the value of money continues to drop, some people are causing shortages, and the government is aware of this.
“What I will tell Nigerians is that the President has directed that government needs to step in to stem this tide.
“The 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.”
