The Federal Government has distributed 20 trucks of rice to each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced this after Monday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. He emphasized that this distribution marks the initial phase of the government’s efforts to combat food shortages in the country. He urged governors to ensure that the grains are effectively distributed to the most vulnerable populations.
In related news, Nigeria’s inflation rate reached a record high of 34.19% in June 2024, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Food inflation also saw an increase compared to May 2024.
“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.55%, reflecting a 0.26% increase from the 2.28% recorded in May 2024,” the NBS report stated.
The NBS attributed this rise to higher average prices of food items such as groundnut oil, palm oil (oil & fats class), water yam, cocoyam, cassava (potatoes, yam & other tubers class), tobacco, fresh catfish, croaker, fresh mudfish, snail (fish class), and others.