By Yemi Olakitan
The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun has announced plans to purchase 100 truckloads of rice to be sold at cheaper rates, staying that the most vulnerable residents of the state will enjoy free allocation of the truckloads of rice.
Abiodun said the rice would be subsidised and made available at the rate it was before the recent rise in the prices of the commodities.
He, however, said the poor, the elderly, and the vulnerable would enjoy free allocation.
Governor Dapo Abiodun disclosed this yesterday while speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abeokuta, the state capital.
“We have decided to give our people foodstuffs like rice, garri, beans. I have ordered almost 100 trailers of rice, they will start offloading them tomorrow (today).
“We have decided that the poor, the elderly, and the vulnerable will be given the rice free of charge, while others will have to buy the rice at the price we formally bought it before the dollar rose very high so that it won’t be one-off and we can continue till the issue of the dollar is settled,” he said.
Abiodun assured the people of Ogun State that President Bola Tinubu was fully in charge of the economy.
Food prices in Nigeria have increased due to several interconnected factors such as exchange rate depreciation.
The depreciation of the naira against other currencies makes imported foods more expensive.
Furthermore, when President Bola Tinubu lifted the fuel subsidy, fuel prices became more expensive, leading to a ripple effect on food prices.