President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that all the bags of rice seized from smugglers by the Nigeria Customs Service NCS be released for immediate distribution to the masses.
This order is part of the palliative measures by the Federal government to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
This was announced Monday morning by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, during a media briefing in Abuja.
Mrs Ahmed said:
“The President has approved grains from the Strategic Grains Reserves. The Nigeria Customs Service has in its custody a lot of rice that has been seized and there is one hundred and fifty trucks of rice that is now been handed over to the humanitarian ministry for distribution to the states across the country.”
This development is coming a week after veteran actor, Richard Mofe Damijo appealed to the federal government to ask the Nigeria Custom Service to release the bags of rice, tomato paste, groundnut oil and other items in their possession to the poor masses.
