The Federal Government has
announced the sale of rice to Nigerians at the rate of ₦40,000 per 50kg.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, 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 bags of rice, priced at a flat rate of ₦40,000, are 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.
“It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this historical, all-important and long-awaited inauguration of the sales of 30,000MT of Federal Government milled rice to Nigerians at a subsidised rate of N40,000 per 50 kilogramme.
“This kind gesture was made possible at the expense and directives of President Bola Tinubu, who does not want Nigerians citizens to go to bed hungry; and in his wisdom deemed, it important to initiate this food intervention.”
Speaking on how 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,” 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 explained that once the buyer provides the code number, a treasury receipt will be issued as proof of payment to the government, adding that the buyer will then receive a receipt indicating the collection point and time.
He further explained that the collection point is separate from the sales point; “At the collection point, you present your code to our officials, and you will be handed a bag of rice.”
Haruna noted that in Abuja, the plan is to set up about five to six sales points across the FCT and sales would last as long as there are still bags of rice to sell.
