The Federal Government has announced that only buyers with a National Identification Number (NIN) will be eligible to purchase 50kg bags of rice at a subsidized price of N40,000. President Bola Tinubu, represented by Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this during a flag-off ceremony on Thursday, stating that “the rice intervention will be sold strictly on a ‘one person, one bag’ basis.”
Kyari explained that the sale of 30,000 metric tonnes of milled rice is “part of the Federal Government’s effort to provide subsidized milled rice to help alleviate the ongoing food crisis in Nigeria.” He emphasized the timeliness of this intervention, saying, “This food intervention can be said to be timely considering the times and challenges we are in as citizens of this great nation.”
A multi-disciplinary government task force has been deployed to ensure transparency and broad distribution. Kyari noted, “The process was designed to prevent individuals from obtaining more than one 50kg bag of rice,” adding that buyers will be verified through identification methods like NIN and phone numbers to prevent fraud.
Haruna Sule, Director of Strategic Grains Reserve at the Ministry of Agriculture, detailed the procedure for purchasing the rice: “To qualify for the one person, one bag, you must have a National Identification Number; those in public service are all registered under the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform.” He further explained that after verification, “a code number and a Treasury receipt will be generated, and with that, the buyer can get to the collection center and pick up his bag.”
Sule clarified, “At the collection point, you present your code to our officials, and you will be handed a bag of rice.” He emphasized that this system is designed to “eliminate stampede” and ensure fairness in distribution.
The government expects that this initiative will not only reduce the price of rice but also “crash the price of other closer food substitutes and alternatives,” Kyari concluded.
