Ogun State Statistician-General, Mr. Michael Babatunde Ajayi has urged the government to introduce price-control measures to help reduce the steady rise in the cost of food items.
Ajayi made this call shortly after a survey of markets around Ogun Central, Ogun West and Ogun East axis of the state by the State Bureau of Statistics.
Represented by the Director, Social and Economic Statistics, Mr. Bolarinde Abimbola, the Statistician-General said the situations are similar in all markets as the prices of staples such as rice, maize, garri, yam, beans and oil have doubled or even tripled, adding that this has affected other commodities such as electronics, clothing and toiletries.
These hikes in prices of food items and other commodities, he said, were due to various factors such as insecurity and low productivity in the agricultural sector, noting that sellers of food items and other commodities are part of the problems encountered during the survey, as they deliberately increase prices of items for their selfish gains.
His words: “Early last year, a plastic of garri sold for five hundred naira is now sold at the rate of one thousand five hundred naira which represents an increase of 200 per cent between January 2023 to June 2024.”
While speaking on behalf of traders in Arigbajo market, the Secretary of Egbejoda Market in Arigbajo, Ifo, Chief Akinbola Oludayo, lauded the Dapo Abiodun-led administration for providing an enabling environment for them to transact their businesses.
He appealed to the state government to help curb the unlawful act of deliberately increasing prices of commodities by sellers at various markets in the state.
Also speaking, the Iyaloja of Olabisi Onabanjo International market, Chief Mrs. Oloruntele Ogunba expressed her worries over the drastic increase in the prices of commodities, saying the incessant increase in prices scares consumers away while appealing to the government to provide lasting solutions to the situation.
A consumer, Mr. Ibrahim Gbadamosi while addressing journalists at Egbejoda market, Arigbajo, Ifo, firmly stated that most sellers are the major causes of price hike, pleading with the government to introduce a price control mechanism to curb the unlawful act perpetrated by these sellers.
The markets visited were Arigbajo Market in Ifo, Lanfenwa in Abeokuta, Olabisi Onabanjo International Market, Ijebu Ode in Ita -Osu, Remo Market and Siun Market.