Protests: FG mulls food import if hunger persists

The Federal Government said yesterday it was considering importation of food as a critical option on the table to halt the high cost of items in the country in order to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians.

In the interim, the government has ordered the immediate release of 102,000 metric tonnes of rice and maize from national grain reserve.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after a meeting of the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said the President has directed that food would be made available, no matter whatever it will take.

The decision came after three days of deliberation by the committee, in reaction to the protests by Nigerians over high cost of food and other economic challenges.

The minister also said the government would mete out appropriate sanctions on food hoarders adding that emergency situations required emergency measures to ensure food was available to Nigerians.

He called on Nigerians to be patriotic and desist from hoarding food, while the government deliberately invest massively in food production.