For residents of Lagos State, the forthcoming Eid-el-Kabir celebration will surely be enjoyable as the state government on Thursday commenced the sale of Lake Rice in designated centres.
In most of the sale centres, residents were seen queuing up and buying the product. 50kg of the rice was sold for N12,000, 25kg for N6,000 and 10kg for N2500. The residents were allowed to buy just one bag each per person.
The product was available at designated centers where the throughout Lagos State. For instance, at the Agricultural Development Authority, ACA, Agege, buyers were required
to first write their names, pay with ATM Card and subsequently directed to the store to pick the rice with tickets earlier issued to them.
Ajayi Folayemi Musiliu
Agric Extension Officer in charge of Agege Depot, said the State Government had more than enough rice to sell to residents, saying that adequate measures had been put in place to ensure hitch-free sales exercise. “Since we started, we have been able to put the crowd under control by asking them to put down their names. We have a hall where we tell them to sit and then we call them in batches of 20 and they will go towards the three POS that we have and they pay with their ATM. No cash, nothing but your ATM. Officials of the State Treasury Office (STO) will take in the ATM into the POS and after that, you register and then you are taken to our two stores one for 50kg and the other for 25kg to pick the item,” He explained.
He added that, “With that, we are able to diffuse the crowd trouble and as I am talking to you now, we have attended to over 100 people from that list. It is under control and we are happy about it.”
Ajaiye also assured residents that the government had more than enough rice to sell to them. “Right now, we have five trucks of 50kg and there are 600 bags in a truck which translate to 3000 bags and I still have two other trucks waiting. For the 25kg, it is 1200 bags in one truck and I have done three and that is 3600. In essence, we have more than enough bags to sell to residents,” Ajayi said.