In simpler terms, it would mean that 150 Nigerians will share one bag of rice.
The Nigerian government, led by President Bola Tinubu, has announced a plan to distribute 740 trucks of rice to the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The initiative aims to address the current economic hardship and food inflation, which stands at 40.87%
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris was also quoted as saying that each state would receive 20 trucks of rice.
The minister further clarified that each truck would carry 1,200 bags of rice, with each bag weighing 25kg. This translates to a total of 888,000 bags of rice being distributed across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
SaharaReporters examines the potential impact of this measure on the intended beneficiaries - poor and vulnerable Nigerians. With the government's distribution of 888,000 bags of rice, it remains to be seen how this will alleviate the hardship faced by this demographic.
According to the federal government's 2023 estimates, there are approximately 15 million poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria. Although this number may have increased due to the recent surge in inflation, we will use the government's figure for the purpose of this report.
If the 888,000 bags of rice are distributed equally among these households, each household would receive approximately 0.0592 bags of rice. Given that each bag contains 25kg of rice, this would be equivalent to about 1.48kg of rice per household.
To put this into perspective, a standard small-sized bucket paint can hold approximately 4-5kg of rice. Therefore, one bag of rice would fill about six bucket paints. Consequently, the 0.0592 bags of rice allocated to each household would be equivalent to about 1/6 of a bucket paint.
Furthermore, this distribution would mean that approximately 17 households would need to share one bag of rice (1/0.0592).
Based on the calculation that one bag of 25kg rice can fill six small-sized paint buckets, each household would receive less than half of the rice quantity needed to fill one small-sized paint bucket, specifically 35% of the container's capacity.
Further analysis by SaharaReporters reveals that one small-sized paint bucket of rice weighs approximately 4kg, which means six buckets would total 24kg, closely aligning with the 25kg of rice being distributed by the government.
Given that 17 households are expected to share 25kg of rice, each household would receive approximately 1.4kg of rice. Therefore, the government's current distribution scheme plans to allocate 1.4kg of rice per household.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the price of 1kg of local rice as of May 2024 is N1,608. Therefore, the value of 1.4kg of rice would be approximately N2,251.
In terms of the government's distribution scheme, this means that each household is intended to receive rice worth N2,251.
However, when considering the total number of poor Nigerians, as estimated by the NBS to be 133 million, the allocation per individual appears less substantial. With 888,000 bags of rice available for distribution, the calculation suggests that each poor Nigerian would receive approximately 0.00667 bags of rice.
To put this into simpler terms, this would mean that approximately 150 Nigerians would need to share one bag of rice.
Further analysis reveals that each Nigerian would receive approximately 0.040% of a small-sized paint bucket, which is equivalent to less than 1kg (0.16kg) of rice per person.
To break it down further, with 25kg of rice in a bag, and 150 Nigerians sharing one bag (as previously calculated), each individual would receive 0.16kg of rice.
In terms of monetary value, using the NBS's reported price of N1,608 per kilogram, the 0.16kg of rice each Nigerian would receive is equivalent to approximately N257.28 (0.16 x N1,608).
Some commentators have raised concerns about the effectiveness of this rice distribution in mitigating the impacts of food inflation, which continues to rise in the country.