It said that traders in major food markets in Nigeria blamed the development on insecurity and fuel subsidy removal. Mrs Sussie Onwuka, Head of FCCPC in Lagos state, who made this knownd while touring some major markets in the State, including Mile 12 International Market, Ketu and Ilepo Market said that the government was concerned about the situation.
The objective of the survey was to find out the major reason for the constant hike in the prices of food items in the country in a bid to advise the government on the best policy to tackle the issue. Mrs. Onwuka said, “And because of our mandate to protect the consumer and to also advise the government, we have to conduct an investigation and come up with a report that would help the government put good policies in place, so we have to come out to the source and talk to the market executives.”
The investigation revealed the principal reasons for the crisis, as experienced directly by the people. She said further, “From what the people we have spoken to said, the major complaint is the insecurity in the country. The farmers can’t go to the farm; fuel scarcity has made the cost of transportation go up, and the costs are added to the cost of the goods.”
However, those were not the only challenges that the traders faced. According to her, they also “complained about rain affecting grain.”, among many other reasons responsible for the rise in prices of foods.
Shehu Jibril, Chairman of Mile 12 International Market said that the major cause of the hike was insecurity, as most farmers are now in the internally displaced persons camps, and could no longer access their farms.
He said, “Most of the people in all the IDP camps across the country are farmers, and now they can’t farm because of insecurity. The government should ensure security so that these people can return to their farmlands. That is the only way to tackle the constant hike in food items.”
Jibril stated that the association had started engaging the Lagos State Government, particularly the Ministry for Agriculture, to provide them with farmland.
“It is ongoing; the commissioner is willing and has promised us. So, we are still on the matter,”
They are not just talking to the state government, they are also encouraging farmers in the state. For he added that the association was engaging with the farmers in Lagos to start cultivating other food commodities like tomatoes, among others.
“We can supplement some things we are doing. You know we have farmers in Lagos already who are farming all these lands. So, we are engaging them to start also doing tomatoes and some other things that people can eat in Lagos,” he remarked.