Nigeria In One Minute
Three days to christmas, Lagos keeps mum over non-availability of Lake rice
About three days to Christmas, LAKE Rice, which has become a constant product during festive periods in Lagos, is not available in the market.For two consecutive years before now, especially during yuletide periods, many Lagos residents were inundated with LAKE Rice, a product of partnership between Lagos and Kebbi states.
With the birth of LAKE Rice entering its third year of partnership, things seem to have gone awry with the product not available in the market. Unlike in the past that the various designated sales centres would have been flooded with LAKE Rice, no sales centre was announced by the state government, neither did the state government mention it would reach residents through the major rice distributors it engaged through partnership earlier in the year.
When The Guardian visited the usual sales centre, there was no rice in sight. The Oshodi sales centre had been partially converted to a work yard by a construction company. A resident of Lagos, John Bamidele, like many others, wondered why the LAKE Rice is not available. He said he had planned to buy it to celebrate the Christmas with his family. So, he had expected the state government would announce, as usual, for residents to go to the sales centre to buy. He claimed he had made enquiry about the sales but nobody provided answer to all his questions.
Another resident, Peter Adebisi also felt unhappy that the Ambode-led government could not sustain a project it started about three years ago. When The Guardian spoke to the Public Relation Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture, Tunbosun Ogunbanwo on why LAKE Rice is not in the market, he said it would still be supplied. He however declined to comment on why the supply is being delayed considering it is about three days to Christmas unlike in the past that the product would have flooded the market at least two weeks to Christmas.
The Guardian, December 22, 2018
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