By NAOMI SHARANG

The Senate on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to introduce the Nigerian version of the “food stamps programme” as interim intervention to cushion the effects of food shortages in the country.

This followed the adoption of a motion on “the Introduction of Food Stamps in Nigeria as an Interim Measure to Address Imminent Food Insecurity in the country”, by Sen. Ali Ndume, the Senate Chief Whip at plenary.

Presenting the motion, Ndume said that in other countries, like U. S, food stamps was a government-issued coupons that had been in use since 1939.

“This is as a measure to cushion the resultant hardships and sufferings on the poor/less privileged as well as low-income earners,” he said.

He expressed concerns over the October Cadre Harmonisé Analysis on food insecurity which projected that in 2024, Nigeria was expected to see about 26.5 million people grappling with high levels of food insecurity.

The lawmaker said the reason for the above projection was not far-fetched as several indicators which included but were not limited to the ongoing conflicts across the country and climate change impacts.

Ndume said that many hungry and angry Nigerians had been expressing their frustration and anger over the recent increase in food prices by demonstrating on the streets in several cities across the country.

He said that the clamour for a wage increase and work support could not alone guarantee a more effective way of addressing food insecurity without the introduction of a time-tested public assistance programme.

In his contribution Sen. Solomon Adeola (APC-Ogun) called for the deployment of modern technology to curb abuses.

“The question is, how do we achieve this for over 200 million population? A data must be in place to ensure that the real vulnerable Nigerians get it,” he said. (NAN)

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