President Bola Tinubu has directed the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to commence the sale of seized items to vulnerable Nigerians across the country.
The directive, according to the Comptroller General of the Service, Adewale Adeniyi, who spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday during the sectoral debate series, which also had in attendance the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, is to help in mitigating hunger across the country.
According to the Customs boss, the President directed that the seized food items be sold directly to vulnerable Nigerians to ease the challenge of hunger in the country.
He said, “Mr. President has directed that we sell directly to needy Nigerians food items produced locally but which were seized. This is one of the ways to address the hunger and food scarcity we are facing.”
He also revealed that the President also directed that “imported food items seized by the Nigeria Customs Service should be sold back to the local markets for resale to Nigerians.”
News About Nigeria recalls that the NCS had stopped the distribution of food items after a stampede that claimed seven lives on February 23, 2024.
The sad incident happened during the distribution of 25kg of rice at the Nigeria Customs Zonal Headquarters in Yaba, Lagos State.
Following the tragic incident, the service announced the suspension of the distribution but promised to resume whenever they got the go-ahead from the president and other authorities involved.
Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives today, Adeniyi noted that the service is ready to resume distribution and has put measures in place to ensure that there is no repetition of such a tragedy again.
