Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the release of 15,000 tonnes of assorted grains to Niger and Chad to mitigate the effect of the reported food crisis in the two countries.
A source at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture said on Monday in Abuja that the government was concerned about the situation in the two countries.
Media reports say many citizens of the two countries are fleeing their homes due to food shortages.
The government had approved the release of 50,000 tonnes of assorted grains for distribution across the 36 states to cushion the effect of high prices of foodstuffs in those countries.
According to the source, the ministry had started the process of gathering the grains from the various strategic grains reserve in preparation for dispatch to the two countries.
The Minister of State for Agriculture, Nojeem Awodele, confirmed the approval but declined to confirm the figures.
“The President has approved some thousands of tonnes of assorted grains to be sent immediately to the people of Niger and Chad,” he said.
He said Nigeria was just being “our brothers’ keepers” and to ensure that the hardship being faced by the citizens of those countries was ameliorated.
The minister said the gesture was also intended to prevent insecurity in the sub-region.
“This is a two-in-one program because as we are doing this, we are serving as a big brother in Africa and at the same time, guarding against the unnecessary relapse to crime.
“The people who are hungry, immediately they get to Sokoto or any part of our border, they could heighten the insecurity problem that we are trying to reduce,” he said.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
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