VANGUARD
Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has called on the federal government to address the rising hunger crisis in Nigeria by distributing food vouchers to low-income citizens.
Speaking during a press briefing with the Nigerian delegation at the 2024 IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC, Senator Ibrahim, Chair of the Senate Inter-Parliamentary Committee, emphasized that food vouchers would be more effective than the current cash transfer initiative in tackling food insecurity among vulnerable Nigerians.
He argued that food vouchers would directly alleviate food scarcity for approximately 5 million households—representing 25 million people—and maximize the benefits of recent economic reforms, including the removal of petroleum subsidies and foreign exchange adjustments. These reforms, he noted, should continue to focus on supporting the most vulnerable in society.
Finance Minister Wale Edun, who also attended the briefing, highlighted the government’s efforts to increase food production as a strategy to curb inflation, which is heavily influenced by food prices, contributing 50% of the Consumer Price Index.
