After Daily Trust’s story, Presidency speaks on grain distribution delay

President Bola Tinubu’s administration says the plan to reduce impact of the food crisis ravaging the country through the distribution 42,000 metric tonnes of grains will soon be achieved.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, said this in a statement on Friday.

Daily Trust had reported the delay in the implementation of the directive which was given two weeks ago.

The president’s directive to release grains to the citizens was aimed at addressing hunger which had triggered protests in some states.

Some protesters had blamed the biting cost of living crisis in the country on the present administration’s policies of petrol subsidy removal and currency floating.

Following the directive given on February 8, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, had said the grains would be released to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for onward distribution to Nigerians because the agency has the poverty index of the country.

“We have started working on that. We have already instructed NEMA to give us their work plan so that we can quickly go ahead and take possession of those stocks,” the minister said.

However, Daily Trust’s checks in many states showed that the grains were yet to be made available for distribution as of Wednesday.

While giving update on the situation late Friday, Onanuga said the delay was due to the bagging ongoing at seven strategic locations.

Onanuga also claimed that the announcement of free distribution of millet, maize and others forced a fall in prices in food commodities across the country.

“The Tinubu administration through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is in the final stages of releasing 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted food commodities to support the vulnerable population across the country,” Onanuga said in the statement.

“The grains in seven locations of strategic reserve, are now being bagged for onward delivery to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). The need to bag the grains, caused the delay as the bags were freshly ordered by government.

“Nigerians will not need to pay for the grain bags, as they are free. This will be complemented by the 60,000 metric tonnes of milled rice to be purchased by the Federal Government from the Mega Rice Millers.

“Already, with the announcement of the impending releases of food commodities from the Strategic Reserve, there is a noticeable reduction in commodity prices across major grains markets in the country, Minister of Agriculture, Senator Abubakar Kyari.”

The statement further disclosed other mechanisms the government has planned to boost food supply in the country.

He said, “The Federal Government is also ramping up food production by boosting Dry Season Farming under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project.

“The First Phase of the Dry Season Farming was launched in November, 2023. It focuses on the cultivation of wheat across 15 wheat-producing states, covering 118,657 hectares and involving 107,429 farmers.

“The fields are green now and harvest will commence in a matter of weeks.”