The Federal Government on Monday said it has started to distribute an additional 10 trucks of 50kg rice to each state to be sold at designated centres at N40,000.
This is as the Federal Executive Council, FEC, has insisted that there is no need for the protest as most of the demands put forward by the organizers are being addressed.
Already, ahead of the August 1 national protest, President Bola Tinubu has said that he is protesting on behalf of the youth by addressing most of their grievances.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Council meeting, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed that 10 trucks of rice to each state was a measure put in place to address poverty and high cost of living.
The Minister said, “And the position of the FEC is that most of the demands that the protesters are making are actually being addressed by the federal government and therefore it is the view of the government that there is really no need for the protests again because most of those things that the protesters are putting forward are already actually been addressed or are being addressed by government and like we have said repeatedly, this is a listening government.
“The President has listened to be voices of all those who are planning this protest. And the message is that there is no need for it.
“Indeed, the President is already protesting on their behalf by doing those things that they want a government to do for example, the effort that government is making, in ensuring that food is being made available.
“The last Council meeting here at the briefing, we announced that a number of trucks 20 precisely had been given to the state governors for onward distribution to those who actually In need of them to poorest of the poor in society and those who are actually in need, but government did not stop there there is also rice that is being sold at about 50% of its cost, a bag of rice is being sold at N40,000 as we speak now.
“This rice have been taken to various centers across all the states of the federation, and is being sold at 40,000 Naira, centers have been created. So that those who need this rice can go there and buy this rice at 40,000 naira
“In the first instance, about 10 trucks have been made available to each of these states and indeed, this is just the beginning I know that some of the comments you hear is that it is never enough. Government has not pretended that this supplies are indeed enough. But these are necessary first steps that are being made and more of such interventions are being made in the interim.
“Of course, this is like I I said an interim measure because there is so much investment that is going into the agricultural sector. And the rainy season is here. We expect that the prices of food items will come down as investments are also being made not just for the traditional agricultural produce, but also for the irrigation activities in many of these states of the federation. So we expect that as we move forward, prizes of food items, commodities will of course, come down.”