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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has assured that an end to the pain citizens are experiencing as a result of the elimination of the fuel subsidy is imminent.
This was disclosed at the end of the meeting of the Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention convened by the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, at the Presidential Villa.
Youths and women took to the streets of Minna and Kano states to protest the rising cost of living in the country.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, told State House Correspondents on Tuesday night, soon after the adjournment of the meeting that the meeting was convened to address the issue of protests by citizens of Niger State on Monday.
“What I can tell you is that there is already an end in sight to all these hardships. The government is stepping in in a big way to ensure that Nigerians have sucour going forward. We just adjourned a meeting of the special Presidential Committee to address the issue of food shortage. Of course, this is just the beginning of that meeting which is going to continue tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
“What I will tell Nigerians is that the President has directed that government should step-in to tame this tide. Government will not fold its arms and see the way Nigerians are suffering in terms of the availability of these food items. I want to plead with our citizens to understand with the government,” he said.
The Information Minister, who said the Nigerian government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu is deeply concerned over the matter, assured citizens that based on the directive of the President; they will soon have enough food on their tables.
”Government is very concerned about what Nigerians are going through, especially what happened in Minna, Niger State, yesterday and therefore, the government is taking some action to ensure that Nigerians have some relief in terms of the availability of food on the table ,” he said.
Explaining further, he said the food storage facilities of the nation would be thrown open.
“Some of the measures to be taken immediately will involve unlocking the food stuff available in most of the storage facilities around the country. You know that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has some food reserves that will be made available to Nigerians.
“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 the government will provide some intervention to make this food available to Nigerians,” he added.
Idris, however, noted with dismay that some unpatriotic Nigerians involved in the food business were taking undue advantage of the situation to maximise profit.
“What the government is noticing is that actually there is still food in this country but some people are taking advantage especially because of the high cost and the depreciation in the value of our currency which have led to the cost of these food items also going up so, all these issues were discussed,” he said.
The minister disclosed further that all the necessary stakeholders were in attendance at the meeting, in order to find a lasting solution.
“The Governor of the Central Bank was there, the Minister of Finance, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning and the National Security Adviser was also there because the issue also has some national security implications,” he added.
Others in attendance are the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Yemi Cardoso alongside Ministers of Education, Dr Tahir Mamman; Finance, Wale Edun; Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari and State for Agriculture, Mustapha Shehuri under the auspices of the presidential committee on emergency food intervention.
