By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

The Federal Government on Tuesday convened an emergency meeting over the the protests in some parts of the country as a result of high cost of food prices.

The meeting which was presided over by the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, is coming on the heels of the protests by angry youths in Minna, Niger State and Kano over the rising cost of living in the country.

It was attended by members of the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention and was aimed at arresting the brewing crisis as a result of the soaring prices of food items and its attendant hardship on the citizenry.

Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting that lasted for about three hours, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, expressed President Bola Tinubu’s worry over the development.

He said that the President has directed that the situation should be arrested by the Presidential Committee in order to reduce hardship on the populace.

The Minister, who said that there is enough food in the country, added that some elements are trying to take advantage of the high food prices and the depreciation of naira to cause havoc.

He said, “We just rounded off a meeting. It is a special presidential committee to address the issue of food shortage or lack of enough food on the table of most Nigerians.
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“This is just the beginning of that meeting. It is going to continue tomorrow and day after tomorrow. The government is very concerned about what Nigerians are going through, especially what has happened in Minna yesterday, and therefore government is taking some action to ensure that Nigerians have some relief in terms of the availability of food on the table.⁣
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“Of course, this meeting is not by itself exhaustive. It’s just like I said, the beginning. It is going to continue tomorrow and the day after. ⁣
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“Now, some of these will involve unlocking the foods that are available in most of the storage facilities (National Food Reserve) around the country. You know that the Federal Minister of Agriculture has some food reserve. That is going to be made available to Nigerians.”

The Minister said that the government has opened up discussions with millers and major commodity traders on how to open up their stores to make food available.
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According to him, “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, provide some intervention to make this food available to Nigerians.⁣
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“What the government is noticing is that actually there is still food in this country. Some people are taking advantage of the situation especially because of the high cost, the depreciation in the value of our currency that has led to the cost of these food items also going up.⁣
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“So all these issues were discussed. The governor of central bank was here. The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy is in that meeting. Of course, the Chief of Staff, the National Security Adviser, because he also has some national security implications. So all these have been discussed. And like I said, this conversation or discussion is going to continue. ⁣
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“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. ⁣
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“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. But all I can say is that discussions are ongoing, and very soon a solution is in sight for Nigerians.⁣”

Asked whether there is any immediate action following the meeting, he said, “Some of them are dependent on the follow-up meeting on all this hardship. The government is stepping in a big way to ensure that Nigerians have succour going forward.”

Recall that youths in Minna, Niger State had on Monday blocked the ever-busy Minna-Bida Road at the popular Kpakungu Roundabout and called on the administration of President Bola Tinubu to address the problem of ‘hunger in the land.’

Attempts by security operatives to quell the protest by firing tear gas cannisters into the crowd and making some arrests were rebuffed by the mob.

The youths in Kano also protested over the hardship in the country and the state governor, Abba Yusuf assured them that he would take their complaints to the President.

Those in attendance at the meeting which was held behind closed-doors are the National Security Adviser, NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Yemi Cardoso, Ministers of Education, Dr Tahir Mamman; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari and State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sabi Abdullahi.