Some consumers across states on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to establish a price regulatory agency to regulate the prices of foods items in view of the new petrol price regime of N97 per litre.
?In Lagos, a respondent said in spite of the reduction of petrol pump price from N141 to N97 per litre, it had not reflected on the prices of food items and other essential consumer goods.
Mr Lukman Raji, a consumer, said that in spite of the reduction in petrol price, sachet water was still being sold at N10 as against N5 before the removal of fuel subsidy.
“I urged the government to establish a price regulatory agency that would checkmate the activities of some selfish traders, to avoid the exploitation of consumers.”
Raji urged the producers of sachet water to reduce the price in the interest of the masses.
Also, Mrs Funke Abiola, a consumer, said she was not comfortable with the increase in the prices of recharge cards.
According to her, the prices have increased by N10 to N110, N220 and N420 respectively.
Mr Gabriel Akinola said:“Barely three days after the reduction of petrol price to N97 per litre, a gallon of groundnut oil and palm oil still remained at the old prices of N1,400 and N1,200 respectively before the strike.
“Nigerians have yet to see the gains of the strike on the prices of foods items like rice, garri, beans, turkey among others,” he said.
A survey Katsina, Funtua, Malumfashi, Daura and Mai’adua Charanchi markets in Katsina State, showed that the prices of foodstuffs had increased slightly in the past two weeks due to a hike in transport fares.
Commodities most affected included maize, guinea corn, millet and beans.
A bag of maize, which hitherto cost N5, 500, is selling at N6, 000, while a bag of guinea corn goes for N6, 000 as against its former price of N5,400.
Also, a bag of millet, which was sold at N5,500? now cost N6,600 while a bag of beans sold at N10,000 two weeks ago, now cost between N11,000, and N11,200,depending on the quality and variety.
Malam Muhammadu Sahalu, a grains seller in Katsina, told NAN that the high cost of transportation was responsible for the increase.
Sahalu also said that the price of foodstuffs virtually increased daily in spite of the bumper harvest recorded in 2011 in the state.
‘’You know whenever there is an increase in the price of petrol, it will affect the price of almost everything, because of the cost of transportation,’’ he noted.
The sitaution is the same in Port Harcourt, Rivers, where significant price hikes were witnessed in a basket of fresh tomatoes and a carton of iced fish, selling for N7,500 and N9,000 respectively as against N5,500 and N7,000 during the Christmas season.
A bag of Cap rice and Mama Gold rice now cost N11,500 and N9,000 respectively compared to N10,500 and N8,000 previously.
Similarly, a basin of garri rose from N1,500 to N1,700 and a crate of egg from N750 to N930 while a bunch of plantain rose from N1, 200 to N1,700.
Some traders who spoke with NAN attributed the increases to the high cost of transportation.
A rice seller, Mrs? Ama Brown, said that transportation from Port Harcourt to Aba increased by 50 per cent just as haulage charges.
“After Christmas sales, we had to restock and it fell into the crisis period of fuel subsidy removal when the transportation fares were doubled by transporters due to high rise in petrol price,” Brown said.
A fish seller, Mrs Eunice Woke, blamed the increase in fish price to a hike in transport fare caused by the high cost of fuel to power generator and maintain the cold room temperature.
“Fuel was costly during the strike, if you see it at all. Even now that the price is cut down from N141 to N97, petrol has become very scarce. Some of us rely on black market to preserve our goods,” Woke said.
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