The Federal Government has announced that only buyers with National Identification Numbers (NIN) would benefit from its sale of subsidised rice.
In July, the Minister of Information, Idris Mohammed, announced the sale of 30,000 metric tonnes of milled rice to Nigerians at a subsidised rate of N40,000 per 50kg bag.
Following this, the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, through its Human Resources Management Department, instructed civil servants to register for the purchase of the food item.
However, the government later suspended the plan without providing any explanation for the decision.
Represented by Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated during the flag-off ceremony on Thursday, that the rice intervention will be sold strictly on a “one person, one bag” basis.
Kyari explained that the flat rate is part of the Federal Government’s effort to provide subsidised milled rice to help alleviate the ongoing food crisis in Nigeria.
“This food intervention can be said to be timely considering the times and challenges we are in as citizens of this great nation.
“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 such as the release of 42,000MT of Assorted Food Commodities (AFC) to vulnerable and the 30,000MT of milled rice which is being flagged-off for sales to Nigerians today September 5, 2024,” he stated.
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Speaking on buyer verification, Kyari explained that a multi-disciplinary government task force has been deployed to ensure transparency, broad distribution and the overall success of the initiative.
He emphasised that the process was designed to prevent individuals from obtaining more than one 50kg bag of rice, noting that 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.
“In view of the above, I urge our dear citizens to cooperate with the relevant agencies of government who will try to serve you to achieve this great initiative of government.
“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,” he said.
On the process Nigerians would have to follow to purchase the rice, the Director of Strategic Grains Reserve, Ministry of Agriculture, Haruna Sule, explained that civil servants can access the grains at designated points of sale by using their Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System details.
“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.
“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 said.
