In a bid to ease the economic burden on residents, the Niger State government has launched a subsidized grain program, distributing rice, millet, and sorghum across its 25 local government areas. However, the initiative has revealed the residents’ strong preference for rice, with millet and sorghum left largely unbrought.
Findings by ASHENEWS revealed that each local government area received 1,000 bags of 10kg rice, alongside 1,000 bags each of millet and sorghum. Despite this equal distribution, rice quickly sold out, while significant quantities of millet and sorghum remain.
The state government had set up a committee which recommended that interested buyers could purchase two types of grains per transaction, selecting combinations such as rice and millet, rice and sorghum, or millet and sorghum.
Visits to Chachanga and Bosso local government areas showed rice supplies exhausted, with little interest in the remaining millet and sorghum.
Council Secretary of Bosso Local Government Area, Mallam Danlami Maiangwan, said that the Council received 999 10kg bags of rice and 1,000 10kg bags each of millet and sorghum, with 1,000 10kg bags of beans and maize expected next week.
“The buyers demand more for the rice. Everyone wants rice, so we still have a lot of millet and sorghum unbrought. We also know that the beans and the maize that is coming next week, people will be interested more in that. So we intend to sell two of the varieties together, we will add the remaining millet and sorghum and sell it alongside the beans and maize”, he disclosed.
He noted that despite equitable distribution among wards, the grains were insufficient for the area’s population of over 3,000. The anticipation is that the upcoming beans and maize will help meet up the number of people who did not benefit from the first batch of sales.
“Our population is much in Bosso local government, so the 3,000 given to us will not be enough and several people were not able to benefit from it. They are feeling that we are refusing to sell to them but on our part, we just want to be fair to every ward.
“However, since this sale will continue for two months, we are assured that more will come and everyone will benefit.”
In Chachanga, officials declined to comment, but an anonymous staff member mentioned that ongoing government grain sales could lower market prices by reducing demand for private grain sales. As at the time of our Reporter’s visit, only millet and sorghum were left.
The subsidized grains were sold at half the market rate with 10kg bags of rice sold at N8,000, millet and sorghum sold at N5,000 each, while beans and maize are slated to sell for N9,000 and N5,500 respectively.
The Niger State Governor announced this plan during a recent stakeholders’ meeting, aiming to mitigate economic challenges for residents. He also committed to a 90% reduction in grain prices over the next six months.
