Food scarcity: Emmanuel orders mass production of staples ahead of Christmas

Udom Emmanuel, governor of Akwa Ibom, is leading a charge to reverse the hike in price of staple food which has plagued the state for weeks now.

This comes on heels of skyrocketing price of food stuffs such as rice, garri, beans, onion, tomato and others in local markets especially those ones produced within the State.

The governor, who expressed concern about consequences of a food crisis during Christmas, has directed Glory Edet, commissioner for agriculture, and her team at the agric ministry to initiate measures that will eventually crash price of food stuffs to a reasonable extent, ahead of the Yuletide.

Plan to reverse hike in food prices formed part of deliberations at the state executive council meeting held on Wednesday, November 11, 2020 at the government house, Uyo.

Briefing journalists after the SEC meeting, Iniobong Ememobong, commissioner for information, said: “EXCO has directed the State Commissioner for Agriculture and the entire agriculture apparatus of government to ensure that the prices of garri and rice are crashed to a reasonable amount in preparation for the yuletide.

“Also, EXCO noted the hike in price of onions and has directed the Ministry to take practical steps to ensure large scale commercial production of onions.

“We do not want to be challenged by things we can surmount, hence the desire of Government to produce at least 80 percent of consumables here in the state is on course.”