Nigerians flooded the South West zonal office of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Yaba, Lagos, on Friday, in a bid to acquire the newly launched 25kg rice offered by the service at a discounted rate. The initiative, aimed at alleviating the high cost of food in the country, was flagged off by the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, on Thursday.
According to reports by LEADERSHIP, the Comptroller General announced the distribution of seized food items at a reduced price of N10,000 per 25kg bag. The move is part of the Customs Service’s commitment to ensuring the food security of Nigerians, with government approval granted for the disposal of seized food items to citizens in need.
The seized items, which include over 20,000 bags of assorted grains such as rice, beans, maize, guinea corn, millet, and soya beans, along with 2,500 cartons and 963 bags of dried fish, were made available to the public. Other items in the distribution include dried pepper, tomatoes, cooking oil, Maggi, macaroni, salt, sugar, and garri.
LEADERSHIP’s visit to the distribution points in Yaba, Lagos, witnessed a significant turnout of Nigerians eager to purchase the discounted food items. One individual, Bunmi Omoyele, expressed appreciation for the initiative, deeming the price pocket-friendly and anticipating a positive impact on the local market’s rice prices.
Omoyele, however, suggested decentralizing distribution points across the state to mitigate the large crowds. She stated, “This initiative by the management of the service is encouraging, it will bring down the price of rice as I believe there will be more supply than demand. But, the management should further decentralize the distribution points to reduce the crowd we are seeing at this point.”
Another Nigerian, Ibrahim Tahir, commended both the federal government and the Customs Service management, emphasizing the need to ensure that the food items reach those genuinely in need. Tahir stated, “This act is commendable and the process is seamless, but the service should ensure that the food items get to only those truly in need. When it gets to them, the price will drop, but if it falls into the wrong hands, they will only make more profit while the needy will continue to groan.”
