The mass protest in Minna, Niger State, against rising food prices and worsening economic situation rattled the Bola Tinubu administration and partly influenced the decision of the president to issue marching orders to relevant officials to work out immediate measures to check rising food prices in the country.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, after a meeting of the Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that the president was concerned about the accessibility and affordability of food items across the nation.
“The government is very concerned about what Nigerians are going through, especially what happened in Minna yesterday,” the minister said, making reference to the Minna protest.
“Therefore government is taking some actions to ensure that Nigerians have some relief in terms of the availability of food on the table.”
Mr Idris said that the committee meeting would continue until Thursday, adding that certain significant measures are already being considered to ameliorate the deplorable situation.
“Now, some of these will involve unlocking the foods that are available in most of the storage facilities (National Food Reserves) around the country.
“The government is also talking to major millers and major commodity traders to also see what is available in their stores.
“To open it up, so that government will provide some intervention, discuss with them to provide some intervention to make this food available to Nigerians.”
He said that government was aware that some persons were creating the food shortages because of its high cost and the depreciation of the currency.
“What I will tell Nigerians is that the president has directed that government needs to step in to stem this tide.
“Government will not fold its arms and see the way Nigerians are suffering in terms of the availability of these food items. So I want to plead with you to understand with the government.
“By the time these meetings are concluded, we’ll be able to issue a definite statement on what the position of government is in this regard.”