As part of efforts to cushion the effects of the high cost of living occasioned by rising food prices as well as cost of other social and economic services, including electricity and fuel, the federal government announced a palliative measure of 20 trucks of 25 bags of rice to each state of the federation and the nation’s capital. The palliatives, the government said, would be distributed to vulnerable Nigerians.

An analysis of the facts and figures show that about 91.6 million poorest of the poor Nigerians are to share 1, 280,400 bags of 25kg bags of rice, which the federal government is distributing to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. It is also distributing three truckloads of the same food item to each of the 109 senators.

A truckload of 25kg of rice is 1, 200 bags, and when it is multiplied by 20 for each state, it gives 24,000 bags. Again, multiplied by 36 states and the FCT, it gives 880,000 bags.

“For the senators, three truckloads of 25kg comes to a total of 3,600, multiplied by three for each state is 10,800 bags. That figure multiplied by 36 states is 388,800, and then add 36,000 for Abuja, which is a senatorial zone, which gives 392,400. The total is 1,280,400 bags of 25kg rice.

“The World Bank had projected the 2024 population of Nigeria to be 229,152,219. The organisation further stated that 40.7 per cent of the population lives in multi dimensional poverty (MDP). This means that the population of Nigeria under MDP is about 91,600,000.

“When you share 1,280,400 bags of 25 kg rice among the 91,600,000, seven of them will divide one 25 kg bag of rice,” an economic analyst told Saturday Sun.

In an interview with Saturday Sun, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) endorsed the government plan on the grounds that any attempt at reducing hunger is a welcome development, some other stakeholders in the Nigerian economy have expressed disappointment in the step taken by the government, describing it as a scratch on the surface of hunger.

Reacting to the development, NLC spokesperson, Benson Upah, said that it was a good idea, but noted that it is important for the distribution process to be transparent and just in order to achieve the desired outcome.

“Any effort to reduce hunger in the land, so long as that effort is lawful, is acceptable to us. Our only concern will be that such initiative should be transparent and equitable. So that it does not become an avenue for self-enrichment or aggrandizement.

“If the government is serious, honest and is transparent about distributing food across the country, why not? It can do so. There are many ways that this can be done equally, but if the government elects to fail, it will fail as usual,” the labour leader said.

But contrary to the position taken by the labour union, other stakeholders including the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have faults the government.

Timothy Osadalor, Deputy National Youth leader of the party described the government’s move as despicable, and an action that should not be encouraged. He told Saturday Sun in Abuja that the plan is not a solution to the hunger in the country, adding that what the country needs Is good governance and not palliatives to citizens. He noted that previous efforts by governments to give palliatives to citizens didn’t end well and there is no guarantee that the current initiative will be different. The PDP chieftain challenged the government to disclose the total cost of the palliatives, the quality of rice, and focus on addressing the security challenges across the country so that farmers can return to their farms.

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), came out harder on the government. Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, its executive director, said: “It is very clear that the Tinubu administration is still under the illusion of a campaign trail. Probably they may have forgotten that the election is over, this is a period that the government ought to have come handy with its policies and programmes that will deal with issues of hunger, poverty and forced food insecurity in the country.

“But it’s sounding like perhaps the government doesn’t have tangible programmes to ensure food security in Nigeria and deal with deep hunger which has become a widespread phenomenon in the country.

“There are a number of commitments that the Nigerian government has signed to deal with issues of hunger, poverty, inequality, boost agriculture, and productivity in Nigeria. But because of lack of focus, seriousness, drive, corruption in the policy implementation and also dealing with the issue of governance effectively, the Nigerian government under Tinubu appears to either forget or unaware or completely neglect some of these very important global frameworks that Nigeria has actually signed to defeat hunger.”

In the same vein, Johnson Chukwu, managing director/CEO, Cowry Asset Management Limited, described the intervention as a case of treating the symptoms of malaria without treating its root cause; a palliative that doesn’t necessarily address the challenge of rising hunger in the country.

Chukwu advised the government to come up with sustainable solutions such as addressing concerns around food production and insecurity, which has prevented a lot of farmers from accessing their farm lands. He equally pointed out that infrastructure which is also a constraint to adequate food production must be looked into.

Daniel Dickson-Okezie, a Small and Medium Enterprises analyst said that the distribution of 20 trucks of rice to the states cannot reduce hunger in the land, describing it as funny.

“The fact remains that this government is trying to adopt palliative economics as a permanent feature of its policies. The act of dropping money or food cannot work. What the government has to do is to go back to the basics. If the government can get the energy security right And fix insecurity in the country, then we can address the issue of food insecurity,” he told Saturday Sun.

Founder of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, also faulted the policy, describing it as ridiculous, thoughtless and unimaginative when you divide the total number of rice by the number of the very poor people.

Okorie, who was also a presidential candidate of the United Progressives Party (UPP), said: “It is too little and it cannot have any impact. In fact, nobody would notice that anything had been given out. So, if it is diverted as usual, nobody would notice. They can go ahead and mislead themselves; they are not misleading the people. They know what to do to make an impact, but they are not doing it.”

Paul Alaje, a senior economist with SPM Professionals, warned that the approach adopted by the government will further spike inflation. He said a sudden rise in demand for rice as a result of the volumes required by the government would equally push up the price.

He said no state in Nigeria has a population that is less than 2 million people, saying the sharing of 25kg rice for a family of four will only cater for 500,000 people.

“This is just 10 per cent of the population. So what happens to the remaining 90 per cent and for how long will a family of four eat a bag of rice? So hypothetically the remaining 90 per cent that are left out will now need to buy more rice, thereby hiking inflation figures.”

As of Friday morning reports from across the country indicated that some states had received their allocations while others were still awaiting the arrival of their ration.

Rivers

In Rivers State, Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for donating food items to the state, saying it would go a long way in addressing poverty and hunger, especially in the rural areas. Governor Fubara stated this upon the receipt of 21,650 bags of grains. The food items, consisting of 3,680 bags of garri and 17,970 bags of corn, are part of the Presidential food palliative initiative to cushion the effects of hunger and the economic hardship faced by many families. The governor revealed that Local Organising Committees (LOCs) headed by the Caretaker Committee Chairmen of each local government area had been set up to distribute the food items to the most vulnerable people in the state.

Bayelsa

Report from Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital had it that 20 trucks of rice had arrived in the state. An official of the Bayelsa State Emergency Management Agency told Saturday Sun that the distribution had not commenced. Though no reason was given for the delay in distributing the food items, investigation revealed that the decision may be strategic given that the state government recently distributed 10,000 bags of 10kg rice received from the Dangote Foundation to people in the state as part of efforts to alleviate the economic hardship.

Akwa Ibom

The Akwa Ibom state government acknowledged receipt of 24,000 bags of 25kg rice from the Federal Government. It also increased the quantity by another 24,000 bags, insisting that indigenes must return to farm as a permanent solution to the present food crisis in Nigeria. The state governor, Pastor Umo Eno expressed appreciation to the federal government for being caring and responsive at this very critical time. The state government said through the food intervention, 20 bags of the 25kg rice would be shared to each of the 2,272 gazetted villages in the state.

This is in addition to the over 100,000 families drawn from the social register, who have already received, and others who will be receiving, free food items from the state government through the Bulk Purchase Agency.

Kogi

From Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, our correspondent reports that the state received its allocation on Tuesday last week. The palliatives, brought in 20 trucks, were offloaded at the Muhammadu Buhari Civic Centre in Lokoja. Although sharing was yet to commence at the time of filing this report, Saturday Sun gathered that the rice would be shared among the poorest of the poor in the 239 wards of the state. States that are yet to receive as of Friday morning were Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Ekiti, Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti, Plateau, Lagos, Nasarawa, Kebbi, among others. (Saturday Sun)

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