February 07, (THEWILL) – President Bola Tinubu has returned to Abuja after a two-week holiday in France.
President Tinubu had departed Abuja for Paris, France on January 24.
Tinubu landed at the Presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Tuesday, at about 8:55 pm.
The President was received at the airport by some of the senior members of his administration, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume; his Chief of Staff, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila; the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FTC), Nyesom Wike.
Also at the airport were the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi, among others.
Meanwhile, amid protests in Niger and Kano over economic hardship and rising food costs in the country, President Tinubu, on Tuesday, directed the Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention to intervene in the situation.
THEWILL reports that the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, met behind closed doors with the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in response to the directive by the President.
The meeting also had in attendance the Ministers of Education, Dr Tahir Mamman; Finance, Wale Edun; Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu; Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari; and State for Agriculture, Sabi Abdullahi.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, expressed President Tinubu’s worry over the development.
“We just rounded off a meeting. It is a special presidential committee to address the issue of food shortage or lack of enough food on the table of most Nigerians.
“This is just the beginning of that meeting. It is going to continue tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. The government is very concerned about what Nigerians are going through, especially what happened in Minna yesterday, and therefore, the government is taking some action to ensure that Nigerians have some relief in terms of the availability of food on the table.
“Of course, this meeting is not by itself exhaustive. It’s just like I said, the beginning. It is going to continue tomorrow and the day after.
“Now, some of these will involve unlocking the foods that are available in most of the storage facilities (National Food Reserve) around the country. You know that the Federal Minister of Agriculture has some food reserves. That is going to be made available to Nigerians,” he said.
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