Kebbi residents want governor to reduce high price of rice

Amid rising cost of locally produced rice in Kebbi State, residents have urged Governor Atiku Bagudu to urgently reduce the price.

A youth leader, Muhammadu Badariya, told journalists that the state was exporting the product at a cheaper rate while the residents were buying it at a higher price.

He urged the governor to consider the welfare of the people by making rice affordable to them.

According to him, while the Bagudu government had signed a memorandum of understanding with some states to sell a bag of rice at N12, 000, it was being sold for N16, 000 in Kebbi.

A member of the rice growers association in the state, who asked not to be named, said it was painful that the governor had not listened to their appeal for a reduction in the price.

He said there was no reason the locally produced Labana Rice to sell for N16, 000 in the state, despite that the fact that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had contributed to funding its cultivation through its anchor borrowers programme.

He added that the task of sustaining the over 10, 000 metric tones of rice might be disrupted in Kebbi if the right farmers do not have access to the fund.

The Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor, Mr. Nora Bena, said in a statement that government was committed to sustaining the tempo.

He warned beneficiaries of the loans who were yet to repay their credits to do so to avoid prosecution.

All efforts to get the response of the state coordinator of the programme, Hassan Abdullahi, were unsuccessful, as he failed to answer calls made to his phone.