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| Fresh vegetables at the Utako Market, Abuja, after workers resumed from the Easter holidays ... on Wednesday. Photo: NAN |
Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the prices of beans, yam, tomato, pepper and other soup ingredients had risen by about 150 per cent since President Goodluck Jonathan was declared the winner of the election.
His main rival and candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, had rejected the results and alleged widespread malpractices.
As a consequence, simultaneous protests, which turned bloody, broke out in many parts of the North and led to the death of some people and the destruction of properties.
Some traders in food items at markets visited by our correspondent in Lagos attributed the increase in prices to cut in the supply of some food items mainly cultivated in the North, but which could not be transported to the South because of the violence.
It was also gathered that the perishable nature of some of the items such as tomatoes, which had been loaded in lorries and readied for transportation to the South before the violence broke out, also contributed to the hike in prices.
For instance, a big basket of tomatoes, which sold for N5,000 at the Mile 12 Market in Lagos before the elections, went for N10,000 on Wednesday, representing a 100 per cent increase.
Similarly, a big basket of Tatashe pepper now selling for N14,000, was sold for N5,000 two weeks ago, which is about 180 per cent increase, while the price of a basket of another pepper variety popularly called Atarodo has also increased by about 166 per cent from N3,000 to N8,000 in the same period.
A pepper seller at the Mile 12 Market, Mr. Shittu Aliyu, who confirmed the increase in the prices of some food items, attributed the development to the violence that followed the election, said that it was hard for dealers to bring the items in to Lagos because of the risks involved.
He explained, “Transporters from Kano have refused to bring the food items in because of the fear of getting their lorries burnt by rioters in the North, so the dealers and farmers have to keep them for days till the situation is calm enough for them to operate.”
According to a tomato dealer, Alhaji Nuhu Musa, farmers are also finding it difficult to go to the farms to harvest their crops because dealers are not ready to buy from them for now because of the violence and the restrictions of movement during the general elections.
He said, “The lorry that I have been expecting for the past three days just came today because of Tuesday’s governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections. Almost half of the 350 baskets of tomatoes, which cost N350,000 with the cost of transportation to Lagos has melted in the baskets. So, I am losing almost half of my investment now because I could not dispatch them on time. I have to sell the melted ones cheaper than the good ones.”
A yam trader, Mr. Mohammed Yusuf, said that the commodity’s price had also been affected by the rise in the cost of diesel from N95 a litre to N175 a litre, adding to the cost of transportation.
“For instance, 100 pieces of yam used to sell for about N30,000, but they are now selling for N35,000,” he said.
The President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Otunba Femi Deru, said that the economy witnessed momentary slowdown in the informal sector as a result of the electoral process because many of the operators depended on the daily income they made from their trades.
He said, “An estimated N70bn in daily Gross Domestic Product was lost on each election day, investors’ confidence was weakened because of the uncertainty that comes with elections, while planning and productivity were affected in some segments of the private sector due to the delay in signing the 2011 budget into law.” - Punch
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