“Vegetable N50, Pepper N100”: Monarch Orders Slash in Food Prices, Sends Warning to Traders

• Food prices in all of the Ado Ekiti markets were lowered on Monday by Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, the Ewi of Ado Ekiti and his councils
• They dissolved several commercial unions and prohibited the activities of middlemen in several marketplaces
• The monarch ordered the chiefs to keep a watch on the marketplaces to ensure that the command is obeyed strictly

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

On Monday, the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, along with his council of chiefs, implemented a drop in food prices throughout the Ado Ekiti markets.

Additionally, Premium Times reported that they outlawed middlemen's operations in a number of marketplaces and disbanded a number of trading associations.

The Ewi-in-Council met with the leadership and a few members of the market women association, who were selected from the state capital's numerous marketplaces, under the direction of the traditional ruler, Oba Adejuyigbe, to make the decisions.

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The public reports, which revealed that most vendors conceal their true identities in order to drive up prices to the detriment of locals, deeply troubled the council.

This has led to massive inflation in food prices causing consumers to lament.

Ade Omoniyi said,

"We are our own problems in this country. Traders are too greedy that they are not even hope for price of goods to grt better. They keep raising cost of food items even when wholesale price gets lower.

Food prices slashed

The Ewi-in-Council ordered that the prices of several goods, including tomatoes, peppers, vegetables, palm oil, locust beans, pork, garri, and beans, be immediately slashed.

He issued a warning, saying that any careless dealer discovered raising the costs of the named commodities will face consequences.

In addition, the Ewi-in-Council outlawed several organizations that charged outrageous prices for their products and mandated that vegetables be sold for no more than fifty naira, pepper for one hundred naira, a kilogramme of meat for four thousand five hundred naira, and a measure of garri for seven hundred naira.

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Oba Adejugbe urged the traders' leadership in the several markets to carry out the direction, pointing out that the action was taken to make life more comfortable for the people living in Ado Ekiti.

In order to guarantee that the command is strictly followed and to penalize those who do not comply, the monarch said the chiefs would keep an eye on the markets.

“All along, we have market women association leaders in all sectors. People selling clothes have associations. We never knew that in addition to the leaders we have there, there are still some people called middlemen. That is why the farmers will bring foodstuff from the farm, the middlemen will hijack the goods and increase the price.

“Sometimes, they don’t pay the farmers until they have sold them. We realised that is one of the reasons why there are high prices of goods in the markets. We decided to ban all associations in the markets and there is no middleman again. Bring your goods to the markets and nobody can stop you again.

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“We will sanction whoever goes against the directive. The chiefs have been directed to be monitoring the markets. We have minimum prices for the foods that we eat and nobody should inflate them,” he said.

FG addresses solution to food price hike

Legit.ng reported that in response to the nationwide rise in food prices, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has advised Nigerians to be patient.

This was stated on Tuesday during an interactive session with traders at the Dawanau and Galadima markets in Kano, as reported by NAN.

Adamu Abdullahi, the acting executive vice chairman of the FCCPC, said that the government is making appropriate efforts to address the problem.

Source: Legit.ng