The Federal Government has given 20 trucks of rice to each of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, to address the country’s food shortage. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced this after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Monday.
“This is the first step as the government takes measures to tackle the issue of food shortage in the country,” Idris stated.
He urged governors to ensure the rice is distributed effectively to the most vulnerable people in their states.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s inflation rate has hit a new high of 34.19% in June 2024, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Food inflation also increased, rising from 2.28% in May 2024 to 2.55% in June 2024.
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The NBS report highlighted that the hike was driven by higher prices of essential food items.
“The increase in food inflation was triggered by a rise in the average prices of items such as groundnut oil, palm oil, water yam, cocoyam, cassava, tobacco, fresh catfish, croaker, fresh mudfish, and snail,” the report read.