The Federal Government, through the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), has said that grain hoarders and smugglers are to blame for Nigeria’s continual increase in food prices.
Tunji Bello, Executive Vice Chairman of the FCCPC, stated this during a town hall meeting with industry leaders, micro, small, and medium-sized companies (MSMEs), market heads, farmers, transporters, and service providers in Kano on Wednesday.
Bello pointed out that FCCPC inspectors observed that certain grain merchants were storing newly harvested grains in warehouses to create artificial scarcity, aggravating food inflation in Nigeria.
According to him:
“Without caring for the consequences of their action on fellow countrymen and women, some of these unscrupulous actors go as far as taking some of the food items they had mopped up from the farmers or the markets and smuggling them across the borders to sell at premium, thereby endangering our national food security.”
He urged Kano stakeholders to work together to eradicate unethical activities that lead to price inflation in the national interest.
“Don’t get us wrong; we are by no means saying everyone is guilty here. We only have few bad eggs involved in such unethical practices,” he stated.
Bello added that price-fixing and artificial barriers like entry taxes that are enforced by market groups as immoral behaviors in addition to grain hoarding imposed by the associations.
Also Read:
Troops dismantle notorious kidnapping syndicate in Taraba
Kebbi begins investigation into riot in Health College as students burn down provost’s residence
Regionalism architect of Nigeria’s problems – Obasanjo
cc: Daily Post Ng
