The Federal Government has announced that only buyers with National Identification Numbers would benefit as it commenced the sale of 30, 000 metric tonnes of milled rice to Nigerians at a subsidised rate of N40,000 per 50kg bag.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, spoke on behalf of President Bola Tinubu during the flag-off ceremony on Thursday. He said that the rice intervention would only be sold on a “one person, one bag” basis.
According to Kyari, the 50 kg bags of rice, which have a fixed price of ₦40,000, are a component of the Federal Government’s initiative to supply discounted milled rice in an attempt to ease Nigeria’s ongoing food crisis.
“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.
Regarding buyer verification, Kyari clarified that a multidisciplinary government task force has been established to guarantee the initiative’s overall success, transparency, and wide distribution.
He emphasized that the procedure was created to stop people from getting more than one 50 kg bag of rice. He also mentioned that recipients will have their identity confirmed using phone numbers and the NIN, preventing scammers from getting multiple bags at the expense of other people.
“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.
Speaking about how Nigerians would have to buy the rice, Haruna Sule, Director of Strategic Grains Reserve, Ministry of Agriculture, said that civil servants can use their Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System details to access the grains at specific points of sale.
“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,” he said.
“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 added.
Sule added that the buyer will receive a receipt specifying the collection point and time after giving the government the code number. This treasury receipt serves as evidence of payment to the government.
He went on to say, “At the collection point, you present your code to our officials and you will be handed a bag of rice,” further emphasizing that it is not the same as the sales point.
The sale of rice with subsidies was announced in July by Idris Mohammed, the Minister of Information.
Subsequently, the Human Resources Management Department of the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs directed civil servants to register in order to purchase the food item. But afterwards, the government shelved the plan with no rationale.
