Lagos Moves To Checkmate Rising Costs Of Food Items In The Market

The Lagos state government has made a move to control the distribution and prices of food items in the state. This is necessary, to ensure that consumers are not ripped up by Shylock food sellers.

The state said it’s surprising that for prices have continued to hit the rooftops despite the support the state government has been extending to farmers.

This is coming amidst frustration among not a few Nigerians of the high cost of food in the market which has affected the daily lifestyles on many families in the country.

Many Nigerians recently protested across the country under the #Endbadgovernance for 10 days, to draw government’s attention to their hardship and sufferings due to the high cost of basic commodities in the market.

According to the state’s commissioner of Agriculture, Bisola Olusanya “going forward” the Babajide Sanwo-olu administration wants to ensure that the support it’s providing for farmers in the state is also reflected in the prices of food items.

Olusanya made this known on Wednesday while representing Governor Sanwo -olu at the 2024, “LCCI Agric Symposium and Fair.”

She noted that profiteers in the food chain distribution are frustrating governments efforts to ensure that food prices are brought down, adding that the government will now try to ensure that “the average Lagosians and Nigerians can see the impact” of government supports for the agricultural sector from how much they pay when the food items get to the market.

She said, : “Going forward, government has said any support to any farmer has to be with an agreement that we must understand your trail to the market for us to be able to say that ‘yes we supported you with this based on this amount and this is the price you are going to sell in the market.

“The federal, state and local governments invest so much in food production. But we do not follow our investments to the markets.

“What I mean is that we give farmers inputs and we give processors support but we do not follow the products to the markets to ensure that the prices at which these items are being sold are reasonable for average Nigerian.

“We leave the dynamic of pricing to market arbitragers and those who will play at the margins and at the end of the day we say that ‘prices of foods are too high.

“We must ensure that with all of our supports, the average Lagosians and Nigerians can see the impact. The average Nigerian out there does not understand that you gave someone a bag of fertilizer, seeds and pesticides.

“The only thing Nigerians wants to hear is that the price of foodstuff is now at this low price,” she noted.