The Federal Government has begun the sale of 30, 000 metric tonnes of milled rice to Nigerians at a subsidised rate of N40,000 per 50 kilograme bag.

Senate Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, who flagged- off the sale of the rice at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, said the potential buyers would present their National Identification Number (NIN) as a means of identification.

Kyari said the rice intervention was timely due to the times and current challenges Nigerians are grappling with.

He said: “It is indeed my pleasure to welcome you all to this historical, all-important, and long-awaited flag-off of the sales of 30,000 MT of FGN milled rice to Nigerians at a subsidised rate of N40,000 per 50 kg.

“This kind gesture was made possible at the expense and directives of the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, who does not want Nigerian citizens to go to bed hungry and, in his wisdom, deemed it important to initiate this food intervention.

“We are all aware that in the recent past, precisely aftermath of COVID-19, and due to the Russian-Ukraine war, the climate change, amidst other localized factors/challenges, food prices, farm yields, and food chains, were distorted globally, and Nigeria is not an exception.

“This has led to increased concern and risk of food insecurity and general decline in the standard of living globally. I therefore urge us to understand that the present challenges are not peculiar to our great country.

“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 to applaud the immense efforts of the present administration, such as the release of 42,000 MT of Assorted Food Commodities (AFC) to vulnerable and the 30,000 MT of milled rice that is being flagged off for sales to Nigerians today, 5th September, 2024.”

The Minister explained that a multi-disciplinary machinery of government had been deployed to ensure the transparency, wider reach and success of the exercise.

He revealed that the process is structured to ensure that one person does not get more than one 50kg bag of rice.

He said the intending beneficiaries would be “verified using relevant identification mediums such as the NIN and phone numbers to forestall multiple accesses to the commodity by fraudulent individuals to the detriment 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.

Explaining the process Nigerians would have to follow to purchase the rice, the Director of Strategic Grains Reserve, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Haruna Sule, said civil servants could access the grains from the point of sale with their Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

“Once you have any of these three, you present it to the sales operators and it is logged on the platform that has been created.

“After this, you proceed to pay electronically with your ATM; once the payment is done, it is linked to the initial sales operator and it shows that you have paid; then a receipt will be issued with a code number,” he explained.

“With the code number, he said, the buyer will be issued with a treasury receipt to show that he or she has paid to government.

“The buyer is then given a receipt which shows point of collection and time of collection; this is to eliminate any form of stampede.

He noted that the point of collection is different from the point of sales, adding that “when you get to the collection point, you present your code to our officials and you will be given a bag of rice.”

In Abuja, he said, the plan is to set up about five to six sales points across the FCT and the duration of the distribution will be for the period they are able to finish sales.

It would be recalled that the sale of subsidised rice was first announced by the Minister of Information, Idris Mohammed, in July 2024.

Following the announcement, the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs Human Resources Management Department asked civil servants to register for the sale of the food item.

The government thereafter announced that it had halted the plan without any explanation.