Afenifere hails FG for offering rice at lower price

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Wednesday, commended the Federal Government for rolling out N50kg bags of rice to be sold for N40,000, lower than the current N70,000 market rate.

The Federal Government announced the cheaper rice on Monday as part of measures to forestall the planned hunger protest scheduled to start on Thursday, August 1, 2024.

In a statement on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, Afenifere reiterated its call for the organisers of the protest to call it off in the interest of peace.

The organisation commended the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, saying, “This will entail the resuscitation of the defunct commodity boards that would ensure the availability, distribution and sales of the commodities in various parts of the country. Incidentally, the government has expressed readiness to do this going by the disclosure of Vice President Kashim Shettima who announced the plan of the government to set up commodity boards to regulate the soaring prices of food in the country.

“Although the reason for the delay in getting the boards to be set up since then may not be immediately known, the government should use the opportunity of bringing commodities into the public space to have the boards set up.

“Members of the boards must be people within the vicinity of where the commodities are to be distributed and marketed so that the people there would be their watchdogs. Doing so would also remove the suspicion of the government wanting to impose on the people.

“You will recall that the government had not only begun the distribution of 20 trucks of rice per state, it has also directed that a bag be sold at N40,000 instead of above N70,000 at which it is being sold currently. Reports even have it that 10 additional trucks have been dispatched making it a total of 30 trucks per state.

“Some states such as Katsina, Bayelsa, etc. have acknowledged the receipt of the commodity just as some of them have even begun its distribution. Also, given steps being taken by the government to address identified problems in the country, particularly about food, Afenifere reiterates its earlier call on those behind a nationwide, ten-days-long protest to shelve it.”

He urged Tinubu to urgently ease the trauma of farmers in the country through, among others, transparent utilisation of the N2m package recently approved on the Accelerated Stabilisation and Advancement Plan of which agriculture is a key component as put forward by the Presidential Economic Coordination Council.