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By Madu Obi
Officials of the Federal
Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) stormed the popular Oseokwodu food market in the commercial city of Onitsha on Thursday to find out reasons for the galloping increase in the cost of food items.
The traders, however, did not mince words in telling the federal government officials that insecurity across the country is the main reason for the high cost of food items.
The coordinator of South East zone of FCCPC, Mr Jude Akonam had said the reason for the visit was to hear from traders and customers how the rise in prices affect them, with a view to relaying the message to the appropriate quarters for action.
The traders, through their leaders, said the market is usually a place known for purchasing items at cheap prices, noting that for the cost of food items to be high at Oseokwodu, is an indication that things have got out of hand.
Secretary of Oseokwodu Market Traders Union, Mr Onyejekwe Cyprian, who described the market as the food basket of Anambra State and beyond, lamented that lately the cost of items in the area had become unbearable.
Attributing it to insecurity, the market leader said that farmers now fear to go to their farms to cultivate crops, adding that even when they take the risk to go, they are either abducted when moving crops to urban places to sell, or when coming back.
He said: "These days, traders now go to rural places because farmers who manage to harvest crops fear to transport them by road for fear of kidnapping.
Now it is the traders that are suffering because we go to them. Most consumables in Nigeria come down here to this market which serves as a distribution point.
We receive supplies from all over the country, three times every week. Yams come from Benue, grains from Niger, Adamawa and other states, potatoes from diverse places, fish from parts of Anambra here, but today, the supplies no longer come.
Sometimes, farmers call traders on the phone and tell them that there may not be supplies in the near future because the bandits were terrorizing them. In that way, the trader, who knows that he will not get stock, will decide to hike the price of the available ones.
If government can do something about insecurity, I'm sure farmers will return to farm and traders will not be afraid to transport their goods back for sale."
Onyejekwe also said that besides insecurity, climate change and cost of transportation were other factors.
Addressing the traders, Akonam said the reason for the visit was to hear from the traders and customers how the rise in prices affect them.
The officials, who interacted with traders and customers also shared fliers to sensitize them on the role of the Commission.
Onuorah said the exercise was a country-wide affair, which is carried out by various zonal offices of the Commission.
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