Governor Douye Diri of Nigeria’s oil-rich Bayelsa State says poverty was so palpable before his assumption of office, so bad that citizens eat rice only on Christmas day.

“Before now, rice here in Bayelsa, it was eaten once in a year. It was seen as food for the rich, today the story is different. Rice is like a daily thing at everybody’s table,” Mr Douye said during an appearance on Channels TV on Thursday.

Mr Diri further claimed that “maybe for some average home, every Sunday.”

Rice is Nigeria’s staple food popular among the people. The commodity has however become costly since the Buhari regime banned its importation and insisting the country must grow what it eats.

Though Bayelsa, a tiny state in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, is a major contributor to the nation’s revenue via its rich oil deposits, its people are largely impoverished from degradation of their environment as a result of oil exploration.