RANDOM THOTS
The law of gravity, which states that what goes up must come down, surely does not apply to food prices in Nigeria. About nine weeks after the federal government set up a task force on reduction of food prices on February 1 this year, and eight weeks after the committee submitted a report with tips on the price reduction strategy, prices of basic food items like beef, poultry products and staple cereals are still out of the reach of the common man in the market, and a let-up appears unlikely in the short term despite official efforts.
The federal task force members made up of ministers and high-ranking government officials were told that the major identified challenge was high cost of transportation of food products from farms to the markets and government has moved to ease this challenge by reportedly moving cattle from the North to the southern markets by rail and granting special status to the heavy trucks ferrying food products across the country.
Now in another dimension, the value of the naira against the dollar, which has been blamed for every imaginable evil in the prices of local food products, has dropped from N520 to around N360 to a dollar due to an intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It means roasted plantain (boli) sellers and others have no more excuses to retain their current exorbitant prices. If government ensures improved transport for food products and incentives for farmers, then sellers (both wholesale and retail) must also play their own part to restore sanity to the prices of food items. The Nigerian factor, which focuses on selfish self-preservation first, must not be applied here for the common good; not now, not ever…..
Abimbola Akosile
