Information minister urges Dawanau Market traders to shun foodstuff hoarding

By Abdullahi Yusuf

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Friday urged traders of the Dawanau International Grains Market, Kano,to shun hoarding of foodstuffs so as not to cause hardships to the people.

“Please do not hoard the commodities;make them available in the market so that people can access them,” Idris said.

He also urged the Kano business community to appeal to the traders to make the commodities available in the market to enable the people access them with ease.

The minister made the request during an interactive session in a Town Hall meeting with members of the Kano business community as part of his engagements in the state.

He said hoarding foodstuffs would inflict hardships on the people and negate the Federal Government’s efforts at boasting food security in the country through its agricultural intervention programmes.

Such efforts include the release of 2.15 million bags of fertilizer by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

They also include the implementation of a $995million agro-mechanization programme, supported by the Government of Brazil, for the implementation of mechanization hubs across the 774 local government areas, which the minister said, is set to begin.

He also disclosed that the distribution of 42,000MT of grains from the nation’s Food Reserves to most vulnerable Nigerians had commenced in North-West region.

Earlier,the Chairman of the Kano Business Community,Alhaji Sabi’u Bako, raised a number of the group’s challenges and urged the Tinubu administration to address them.

The issues,Bako said, included the completion of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gass terminal, which if done,he said, would boost power supply for industries to thrive in the state,among other benefits.

He also urged the Tinubu Government to re-work the Anchor Borrowers programme to enable the gesture reach the actual intended beneficiaries.

Bako lamented that the programme which was handled by the Central Bank under the previous administration,did not reach most of the target farmers.

Responding, the Minister assured the business community that all the issues they raised would get the attention of President Bola Tinubu.

He said the President, being a businessman himself, understands their challenges, and would look into them.

As part of his activities in Kano, the Minister had on Wednesday hosted media executives and practitioners to an Iftar(Breaking of Fast).

Dignitaries on the Ministers entourage include the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy,Bayo Onanuga, Special Assistant to the President(Print Media)Abdul’Aziz Abdul’Aziz and Senior Special Assistant to the President(Media),Tunde Rahman

Others are:Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria(NAN),Malam Ali Mohammed Ali, Director-General of Voice of Nigeria(VON), and the Director-General, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Salihu Abdulhamid Dembos.