Nigerian may be faced with a shortage of bread as the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers in Nigeria, Edo Chapter, plan to take part in the proposed nationwide withdrawal of service.
This was disclosed by Mr Benjamin Agbonze, Chairman of the association of Master Bakers and Caterers in Nigeria, Edo Chapter, in an interview with the NAN.
Agbonze said July 13 to 27 was the set date for withdrawal of services, which was necessitated by the incessant increment in the prices of baking materials in the country.
What They Are Saying
Mr Benjamin Agbonze said, “Our national body has directed that on July 13 to 27, we should withdraw our services in order to rearrange ourselves to meet up with the current economic realities.”
He said, “A bag of flour that was sold for about N21,000 in the month of January this year has gone up to about N30,000; we are not making profit with the continued increment in the cost of materials used in the baking business.”
“The national body has resolved that we cannot continue to increase the price of bread, so we are calling on the government across board to intervene.
We want the government to help reduce the tariff on baking materials and also give flour millers easy access to foreign exchange.” he added
He said people are already looking for an alternative to bread and if we continue to increase prices of bread based on continued hike in production materials, we will go out of business.
The national body of the association, during its National Executive Council meeting in June, issued a directive to its units in the country to embark on two weeks withdrawal of service starting from July 13.
What You Should Know
Nigeria’s inflation rose to its highest level in 11 months, rising from 16.82% recorded in April 2022 to 17.71%. This is according to the recently released Consumer Price Index report, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The Food index rose by 19.5% year-on-year in May 2022, representing a 1.13% points uptick compared to 18.37% recorded in the previous month and 2.78% decline compared to the corresponding period of 2021 (22.28%).
The recent food price survey by Nairametrics revealed that the price of rice, and onion increased by 9.12% and 57.4% respectively. Food is an essential commodity for Nigerians, as most of our household expenditure is made on food items.
Also, the average cost of household kerosene increased by 87% to sell for N679.5 in May, while the cost of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas skyrocketed by 103% to sell for an average of N8,726.3.
It is worth noting that Nairametrics reported earlier in the week that a 12.5kg of cooking gas has topped N11,250 in major stores in Lagos State.
