By Matthew Atungwu Workers cut across the civil service in Abuja have expressed concern over the suspension of the sale of the Feder...
By Matthew Atungwu
Workers cut across the civil service in Abuja have expressed
concern over the suspension of the sale of the Federal Government’s subsidised
rice.
The rice is being sold at N40,000 per 50 kilogram bag.
They made their feelings known after discovering the sudden
disappearance of officials at different registration units for the purchase of
the rice.
Recall that the Federal Government promised to sell 30,000
metric tonnes of 50 kilograms bags of milled rice to Nigerians at a subsidised
rate of N40,000.
While inaugurating the scheme, the Minister of Agriculture
and Food Security, Mr Abubakar Kyari, explained that the move by the government
was part of its intervention and efforts to crash the prices of food items in
Nigerian markets.
The sale commenced and lasted for over a week, before it was
put on hold without notice, an action, workers that were yet to benefit from,
decried.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Mrs Mary
Nwachukwu, said she was surprised and disturbed when she got to the point of
payment at the federal secretariat and found out the officials were not on
duty.
“I was encouraged to come to the registration unit at the
secretariat, only for me to be told that the whole thing has been suspended.
“Nobody knows what may happen next and if the scheme will
still continue,’’ she asked.
Mrs Kudirat Muktah, another civil servant who said she experienced
delay in accessing the rice at the initial stage, frowned at the suspension
order
“I was here for two days to get my name registered, but
because of the huge crowd, I decided to wait until it eases off, only to be
told now that the exercise has been suspended.
“What I heard from the grapevine was that the suspension was
as a result of the rowdiness and chaos at the registration and payment point.
“If they can adopt a better method of access to the rice, it
will be better for us,’’ she said.
Mr Sylvester Edwards, equally expressed disappointment at
the news of the suspension of the sale of the rice, even after he had struggled
for two days to get his name written down.
“My brother, I spent two days here before I could register
my name, waiting to be called for the rice, but now I am hearing another story.
“Although, we heard that the rice will be accessed through
another method, but we cannot trust this government.
“The palliative rice will, to some extent ease the burden of
hunger, so, it is important for the government to bring it back,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, finding by NAN confirmed that there was a new
arrangement on ground for the purchase of the rice, to end the cumbersome
process.
An authoritative source in the Office of the Head of the
Civil Service of the Federation, who pleaded anonymity, said it was not the
office that coordinated the scheme as speculated.
The source said that the palliative rice was being handled
by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) after it was inaugurated
by the minister.
On the suspension of the sale, the source said that the
registration of beneficiaries was ordered to be stopped due to the rowdiness,
noise and chaos within the HOS premises.
“People could no longer attend to work in their offices as a
result of this exercise. Therefore, we have to suspend it.
“We also read the report by your agency about people
groaning and facing difficulty in accessing the government’s 50Kg bag of rice
at N40,000.
The plan on ground is to decentralise the purchase by
involving ministries and the agencies under them. The core civil servant will
register in their ministries while those in the agencies will register with
their parent ministries,’’ the source said.
The source, advised officials at MDAs to liaise with their
mother ministries to get details of the new payment and distribution method of
the palliative rice.
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