Residents of Sokoto State, especially those within the metropolis, have called on the state government to identify points of sale of its subsidised rice to the people.
Punch reports that the state governor, Dr Ahmed Aliyu, flagged off rice sales to the people of the state about two weeks ago at a 55% per cent discount rate at Kware town, Kware Local Government Area of the state.
This move, according to the governor, was part of a measure to make life easy for the people, especially with the current economic situation in the country.
The governor during the flag-off about two weeks ago said, “A bag of 50kg of rice will be sold at the rate of N38,700, while the 25kg will go for N19,350 and 10kg is expected to be sold at the rate of N7,740.
“We have also advised the committee on the sales of the foodstuffs to also consider those who can not afford the aforementioned sizes and to also attend to those who want to buy plates of the items.
“The government is not ready to collect the proceeds of the sales but to open a special account to put the proceeds, which we will use again to buy other foodstuffs to continue the projects.
“The state government expended a sum of 14.488 billion naira on this project with 280 trailers of rice, while the ward in the state is entitled to one truck, which is equivalent to 600 bags of rice.”
Speaking on the current situation, Mallam Usman Bello, a resident of the metropolis, said the long wait is gradually demoralising the people of the state.
He said many people in the state have put so much hope in the sales of the rice. ” We have been waiting for this thing since the announcement of the flagging off was made but unfortunately, nothing seems to be working.
“Life is so difficult with a bag of 50kg foreign parboiled rice in the market now going for between N95,000 and N105,000 depending on where you get it.
“We have moved to most of the wards in the metropolis to find out about the sales of the subsidised rice as promised by the state government.”
Also speaking, a woman, Hajia Asabe Lawal, said her husband has set aside some amount of money to procure the item since it was launched but the reverse seems to be the case as she could not get the rice as expected.
“I had the opportunity to move to about three wards in Sokoto South Local Government but could not get the rice to buy.
“We are appealing to the government to make this rice available to us at the market as promised with a subsidised rate to enable us to have food on our table.”
Responding to the development, the state Commissioner for Information, Sambo Danchadi, said the committee on the sales of rice in the state is busy with transportation of the items to the local government levels.
He said the state government committee led by former deputy governor, Chiso Abdullahi, is currently supplying the items to the local government committee.
“Yes, they have started moving the items to the local government level, starting with the faraway local governments like Isa, Sabon Birni, Kebbe, Gudu, and Tambuwal.
“I believe once they are done with those faraway local governments, those close by will be the next port of call.
“I want to assure our people in the state that the rice is intact and will soon get to everyone in need of it,” he assured.
