Concerns have been raised by Abuja civil servants regarding the cessation of the Federal Government’s subsidised rice sales.

The price of a 50 kilogramme bag of rice is N40,000.

When they learnt that authorities had abruptly vanished from several registration units for the purchase of rice, they expressed their dissatisfaction.

Remember that the Federal Government had pledged to provide Nigerians with 30,000 metric tonnes of 50 kilogramme bags of milled rice at a discounted price of N40,000.

During the program’s launch, Mr. Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, gave an explanation of the government’s intervention and efforts to bring down the cost of food in Nigerian marketplaces.

The sale started and went on for more than a week before it was abruptly stopped, a move that the employees, who had not yet benefited from, found offensive.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Mrs. Mary Nwachukwu expressed her surprise and dismay at discovering the authorities at the federal secretariat when she was about to pay.

After being invited to visit the secretariat’s registration unit, I was informed that the entire process had been put on hold.

“Who knows what might occur next and whether the plan will still go forward?” she questioned.

Another civil servant, Mrs. Kudirat Muktah, expressed disapproval of the suspension decision, stating that she had initially encountered delays in receiving the rice.

“I chose to wait till the heavy crowd subsided over my two days here to register my name, but I’ve been informed that the exercise has been halted.

“I’ve been told through the grapevine that the disorder and raucous behaviour at the registration and payment location led to the suspension.

“It will be better for us if they can adopt a better method of access to the rice,” she remarked.

Even though he had battled for two days to have his name recorded, Mr. Sylvester Edwards expressed sadness at the news of the rice sale being suspended.

“My brother, I waited to be called for the rice for two days here before I could register my name, but now I’m hearing another story.”

“Even though we’ve been told there will be another way to get the rice, we don’t trust this government.”

It is crucial for the government to reinstate the palliative rice because it will lessen the impact of hunger to some degree, the speaker stated.

In the meantime, NAN’s investigation verified that a new agreement had been made to stop the laborious procedure for buying rice.

The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation did not organise the plot, contrary to rumours, according to a reliable source there who begged to remain anonymous.

According to the source, the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), which was established by the minister, was in charge of the palliative rice.

Regarding the sale’s suspension, the insider stated that the disorder, commotion, and raucous behaviour on the HOS property prompted an order to halt beneficiary registration.

“This exercise prevented people from attending to work in their offices. As a result, we must put it on hold.

We also read the report from your organisation regarding the discontent and challenges people were having getting the N40,000 50 kg bag of rice provided by the government.

The current approach calls for involving ministries and the agencies under them in order to decentralise the procurement. According to the source, “those in the agencies will register with their parent ministries, whereas the core civil servant will register in their ministries.”

According to the source, in order to learn more about the new palliative rice payment and distribution procedure, MDA officials should get in touch with their mother ministries.