News

Food inflation: We weep each time we go to market, housewives lament

Published

3 months ago

August 11, 2024

Admin

Prices of food items have continued to soar in the market causing Nigerian housewives’ serious heartache.

The skyrocketing food prices in Nigeria have made many housewives and mothers ‘mathematicians’ as they constantly struggle to manage the resources available to meet family needs amid increasing prices and declining purchasing power.

“I’m always agitated anytime I remember that I have to go to the market because of the surging food prices. Things are very expensive in the market and the cost of making a pot of soup has more than tripled in the last year,” said Chidinma Kalu, a Lagos-based housewife.

Catherine Ako, a civil servant said that husbands are not passing through half of what their wives are passing through nowadays because men only give their wives money, and the women will go to the market to find out that what they have would be enough only for them to add their money to make up.

“The cost of protein is very high with meat, fish, stock fish, egg, chicken and turkey gradually going out of the reach of the poor. I spend almost 85 percent of the family feeding allowance on buying protein to cook soup, stew and other meals.

“To prepare a pot of soup for my family of eight, I have to buy meat of about N9,000, frozen fish of N10,000 and stock fish of N4,000, totalling N23,000 for protein alone. This is aside from other ingredients that are needed to make soup, which would take nothing less than N7,000. This means that every week that I make soup for my family, I spend nothing less than N30,000 but this time last year, it only cost about N10,000,” said Kalu, the mother of four.

According to her, “I always feel like crying each time am coming back from the market. I feel robbed. With a lot of money, you hardly get something to fill a nylon back. It is crazy right now in Nigeria.”

Comparing how prices have changed in the last year, Funmi Adewunmi, a nurse, said her family’s weekly feeding bill has increased from N30,000 to over N50,000.

According to the mother of two, her family of four manages to make do with N100,000 weekly expenditure on feeding alone at a time salary is not increasing.

“Since Tinubu’s administration, all we do with our salaries is to eat food without being able to do any other thing. It is now difficult for families to feed well and save money to pay other bills. We only eat food and struggle to pay children’s school fees, house rent and meet other needs,” said Adewunmi.

She said that families hardly talk about saving for investment in today’s Nigeria.

“I nearly fainted when a yam seller told me that a tuber of new yam sells for N11,000. Both old and new yam are no longer reachable to the poor. Beans and maize are also expensive, meaning that there is no more ‘poor man food’ in Nigeria because every food item is expensive,” said Efe Esosa, a Benin-based fashion designer.

She said she bought 5kg of Semovita for almost N9,000 last week and that ate into the money that she was supposed to cook soup and stew for the weekend.

The fashion designer said that the only saving grace for her family in recent times is the cooperative society where she belongs where a group of women come together to make weekly contributions.

“I contribute N5,000 every week and when is my turn to take home, I use the bulk money to stock the house. It is a bit cheaper to buy food items and even protein in bulk. This is why the rich are the ones who are buying food cheaper compared to the poor.

“The beauty of bulk buying is that it not only makes it cheaper to buy food but also takes some measure of stress off one’s shoulder. Food is expensive in Nigeria but buying it in a bit even worsens it,” Esosa said.

Franklin Godspower, a transporter told BusinessDay Sunday that he always feels for his wife who complains every time she goes to the market to buy food items for the house.

“I commend my wife because I don’t know how she manages the little money that I give her as a weekly feeding allowance. I didn’t know that things had gone this bad until last week when my wife was not feeling too well and I decided to help her buy ingredients for stew only to realise that N15,000 was not able to buy tomatoes, pepper, rice and chicken for stew. Since then, I gave kudos to Nigerian housewives,” said Godspower.

BusinessDay Sunday discovered that part of the reason why food prices are surging is the fact that middlemen and off-takers buy agricultural produce from farmers and hoard them to sell at expensive prices.

According to a dealer, who does not want his name in the print, off-takers go to farmers and buy agricultural produce in lands, when the farmers have not harvested.

The dealer said that middlemen in the supply chain contribute a great deal to the price surge. He cited an example with a basket of tomatoes that sold for as much as N140,000 in Lagos recently when off-takers were buying for as low as N40,000 or N50,000 in places like Jos, Plateau State.

He also claimed that insecurity in the northern parts of the country is also adding to a high of cost food items in Nigeria.

“Many farmers are no longer going to their farms due to insecurity and few farmers who are still going to the farm are forced to pay tolls to bandits to access their farms without any interference,” the dealer said.

He said that the high cost of logistics also plays a critical role in driving food costs to the extreme, especially with the removal of petroleum and forex subsidies by Tinubu’s administration.

Credit: BusinessDay

News

Change Negative Narrative About EFCC Being Used For Settling Political Scores- Reps

Published

3 hours ago

November 12, 2024

Austin Ojomah

………Ask Anti Graft Agency To Fight Financial Crimes Within Established Laws

.
……My Staff Are Poorly Paid, EFCC

…., States Why Fight Against Yahoo Boys Fierce

The House of Representatives has tasked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to purge itself from the negative impression that its being used to settle political scores and concentrate fighting financial and economic crimes within established laws.

The House handed the advise on Tuesday through the Chairman House Committee on Financial Crimes Honorable Ginger Onwusibe who led members of the committee on the 2024 oversight exercise on the commission.

The oversight covered extensive facility tour of departments and critical operational units of the antigraft agency.

In his terse remarks, Hon. Onwusibe challenged the agency to improve its operational activities in combating economic and financial crimes by complying with its 2004 Establishment Act and other relevant applicable laws like the Money Laundering ( Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022: Terrorism ( Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022: The Proceeds of Crime Act. 2022, as well as other statutes, that compels it to carry out these roles transparently with accountability and show that the negative maxim being peddled in some quarters that the agency is often being used for settling political scores is incorrect .

The committee assured that it will collaborate with the commission to actualize its mandate by enacting new laws or amending old ones and as well providing budgetary interventions, if it must strive tirelessly to be on top of its challenges

The House urged the agency to collaborate with sister agencies and desist from keeping suspects as- awaiting ‘trial in correctional centres nationwide

“At this point let me add that a recent visit to the Maximun and Minimun Correctional centres in Kirikiri Lagos State, numerous suspects have been awaiting trial for over one year and yet we are all acquainted with the saying that justice delayed is justice denied”

” It is on this note that we call on the EFCC, Attorney General of the Federation and the Judiciary to improve and ensure the administration of justice works and is efficiently delivered to the victims”

The House warned the agency to purge itself of rotten eggs in order to fight economic and financial crimes frontally, thereby stimulating the Nigerian economy

It also urged EFCC to focus properly on its mandate.

” The issue of appropriate and proper focusing on the mandate of the EFCC must relentlessly be on the front burner:

“Orders from competent courts , arrest and debt recovery must be pursued religiously” the House cautioned

But on its side, the antigraft agency said it has not deviated from its focus but rather working hard and fighting financial and economic crimes as enunciated in its mandate.

Chairman of the agency , Ola Olukeyede told his guest in his remarks during the oversight visit that the commission was doing much to fight financial and economic crimes and stimulate the Nigerian economy

He said so far that the agency has recovered over N250bn cash, tens of million of Dollars and other foreign currencies, with over 3000 convictions: 17000 petitions while also investigating over 20000,with about 4000 fresh cases , all being handled by a misery number of staff strenght

He noted that its priority is to improve the country’s image and stimulate its economy, such that there could be improvement in foregin direct investments and stimulation of the local economy.
Olukeyede however, argued that the agency needed more staff strenght, funding , better renumeration for staff because they were poorly paid. He also emphasised on modern day technology to fight the ever dynamic cyber criminals

According to the EFCC boss, it was important to give more salary to EFCC staff and deploy modern technology to fight emerging cyber crime dynamism . He expalined that the agency has increased efforts to fight Yahoo, yahhoo, boys because of their ability to crumble any economy within a twinkle of an eye

According to him, the agency was expanding its drag net to focus on ministries, departments and agencies infrastructural projects. ” “Go to MDAs and see their budget implementstion. It is not up to 20%”

“We want to ensure 50% infrastructural development” the anti graft boss announced, insisting that it would henceforth encourage monitoring of project implementation which was an aspect of preventing financial crimes

He said the agency has dismissed lots of erring staff, and will continue to dismiss and even prosecute them going forward.

Olukeyede disclosed that it had designed a template on staff integrity, using the Gift- Policy model

.” It is not every thankful gift we should collect” the EFCC boss warned

” I am advocating for more welfare improvement, better welfare, he said.

“We will do more recoveries, more convictions, but we need more resources to do our work, maintaining that, that was his stand on ethics and integrity .

Olokeyede’s demand for more salary wage for staff of the commission, is seen as an incentive to boost welfare and morale to fight financial crimes to standstill.

He stated that there was the utmost need to increase salaries of staff of the commission

The EFCC boss who spoke on his stewardship in the last one year, further added that it increased the war against Yahoo- Yahoo boys because of the consequences of their nefarious acts which could crumble a nation’s economy in a jiffy.

He argued that more technology was required to fight financial crimes.

For instance he explained that it was a common scenario then for thieves and armed robbers to attack and break into banks with guns and Dynamites

” But it is the same common and more easier scenario and task now to have Yahoo-Yahoo boys and bank thieves attack banks with technology in the comfort of their homes or hideouts”

“So we need technology and we also need to increase our fight against these Yahoo boys who can dismantle any economy within a twinkle of an eye

He called on the national Assembly to improve and increase its finances because fighting Financial crimes was a herculean task that requires adequate funding

Olokeyede who apparently was responding to criticisms of the commission’s over concentration on Cyber crimes/ thieves, perpetrated by Yahoo boys, said he has made tremendous impact in enforcement, investigation and conviction with an outstanding record convictions between October 2023 when he was appointed till date

News

Trouble looming for Obaseki as Gov Okpebholo orders probe of his admin

Published

4 hours ago

November 12, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State has ordered the setting up of a committee to probe the immediate-past administration of Godwin Obaseki for its failure to inaugurate 14 Edo Assembly lawmakers-elect into the 7th Assembly.

Okpebholo disclosed this while giving his inaugural speech as the new governor of the state.

Governor Okpebholo also ordered the State Chief Judge to immediately investigate the initial delay of former Governor Obaseki to inaugurate duly-cleared judges by the National Judicial Council (NJC) last year

News

Naira may depreciate to N1,993 against dollar – Report

Published

4 hours ago

November 12, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Nigeria’s naira has been projected to depreciate further to N1,993 per dollar in the coming days.

This is according to BMI, a Fitch Solutions subsidiary report title, ‘Weak Naira and Structural Challenges to Constrain Nigeria’s Medical Devices Market Growth’.

The report said the forecasted depreciation will be predicated on the 95 percent dependence on imports for pharmaceuticals in Nigeria.

According to the report, the development would erode both the health system and patient purchasing power.

“We expect that the naira will end 2028 at N1,993/$ from N306/$ in 2018.

“As the naira weakens, the cost of importing medical devices will continually increase, eroding both the health system and patient purchasing power, especially to invest in essential medical technologies given the underfunding of the public health sector,” the report stated.

This comes as Naira fell to N1681.42 and N1735 at the official and parallel foreign exchange markets on Monday.

This comes as FMDQ FX transaction turnover dropped significantly from $1.4 billion on Friday to $471.5 million on Monday.

Last Thursday, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, said the country’s external reserves rose to $40 billion.

Despite Central Bank of Nigeria’s interventions and external reserves rise in the last months, the naira has continued to experience fluctuations in the FX market.