Governors received N30bn extra to address food scarcity, says Akpabio

Nigeria’s senate president, Godswill Akpabio, has announced that all 36 state governors in Nigeria have received N30 billion each to address food scarcity and hardship.

Akpabio made this disclosure during the plenary on Tuesday, saying that the Nigerian government disbursed the funds through the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

“I must say that unverified report has it that each of the state governments in the last few months has received additional N30 billion from Federal Inland Revenue Service outside their normal allocations from the Federation Account to assist them in ameliorating the food situation,” Akpabio said.

“We believe that every state government should utilise the funds received towards ensuring that food is available in the country.

“So, the state governments have a lot to do. They are closer to the people and I do not want to mention local government because most of the local governments are controlled by the state governors.”

He, however, said that political leaders must work to ease the hardships people are facing.

“Nigerians want to see action. Nigerians want to eat and we will provide food for them, there is no excuse. Despite what we met on the ground,” Akpabio added.

Meanwhile, there have been protests in several states as the prices of food items continue to rise.

The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that the current food inflation in the country is as high as 35.41% with headline inflation hitting 29.9%.