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Food prices rise in Lagos markets

By on December 26, 2014

As Nigerians join others across the universe to celebrate Christmas and the New Year, the prices of basic staple food items in major markets in Lagos have soared.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that traders in the food items capitalised on the huge demand for the items to raise their prices and make extra profits, while others aimed to cover the losses they incurred earlier in the year during the festive season.

While discount prices are offered on some other products in the market, a survey carried out between Monday and Wednesday revealed that the prices of staple foods like rice, vegetable oil, meat, vegetables and soup ingredients had increased significantly.

At the Ketu Market, a soup ingredient seller, who identified himself simply as Adamu, said the price of an average basket of tomato had shot up by 77.8 per cent from N4,500 to N8,000 barely 24 hours to Christmas.

Speaking with our correspondent, a trader at the Daleko Market, Isolo, Mrs. Folashade Adeleye, said the price of a 25-litre keg of vegetable oil, which sold for N5,800 a month ago, had increased marginally to N6,000.

Similarly, it was gathered that the price of the 25-litre keg of palm oil had risen by 6.7 per cent from N6,000 to N6,400 within the same period.

The last-minute rush by consumers to buy rice, which is commonly given out as gift in the festive period, has pushed up the price.

A rice retailer, who identified herself as Mrs. Matiluko, said that the price of the Caprice brand of the commodity had increased from N8,000 to N9,000 a bag; Rising Sun brand recorded 6.7 per cent increase, while the Mama Goltd variety increased by 4.2 per cent from N12,000 to N12,500.

A distributor of rice at the Daleko Market, Mr. Innocent Nwanguma, told our correspondent that the wholesale price of the food item had been relatively stable, but added that retailers had marked it up a little so as to make extra profits.

“The market price of rice has been stable for some time now and we have not experienced exceptional demand as compared with previous years,” he said.

The Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, was reported to have said that the relatively stable prices of food items despite the devaluation of the naira was due to massive food production initiatives introduced by the government in the last three years.

At the Abattoir Market in Oko-Oba, a fowl seller, Mr. Dapo Fagbamila, told our correspondent that the price of chicken ranged from N1,500 to N2,500, depending on their sizes and breed.

He said it was expected that last-minute buyers, particularly on Christmas day, might pay up to N3,000 for an average life chicken.

In the same market, a ram seller, Mr. Dare Odutola, said the price of the animal, had fallen by about 20 per cent from what it was during the last Eid-il-Kabir celebration in October.

“The biggest ram, which was sold then for N50,000, now sells for N40,000, while the smaller ones can be purchased for N15,000,” he said.

 

[Punch]