By Bianca Iboma-Emefu
A Non Governmental Organisation, Inspired Lagos Food Market, in collaboration with Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government (LG), has commenced sale of its 50 per cent discounted price to check the rising cost of living in the community.
The food subsidy market, according to the convener, Abiola Adebajo, is aimed at cushioning the effect of the high cost of food, especially for households struggling to afford basic necessities in Nigeria’s current economic crisis.
Adebajo stated that the initiative not only seeks to make food affordable but also accessible to a wider range of the population, particularly those in low income communities.
“You can see the smiles on their faces. The people are happy to be able to shop at 50 per cent discounted rate. When we came to the local government to share our initiative and solicit for a 25 per cent contribution from the local government, the chairman increased his contribution to 30 per cent and the NGO had to subside the food items with just 20 per cent contribution,” he said.
He appealed to well meaning Nigerians to emulate the chairman of Ifako-Ijaiye and support the initiative to bring a bigger and more successful market event to low income earners.
Chairman of the local government, Prince Usman Hamzat, said the intention is to reduce hardship for the residents of the area, adding that he would support any laudable project aimed at bringing relief to the people. According to him, the smiles and happiness the gesture has brought to his people gives him great joy.
“We are going to continue with this initiative. We intend to do another one by next week. It’s a combined effort between the local government and the Inspire Lagos Food Market initiative as part of our CSR. We as a local government equally have our own food market under the “Ounje Eko” Lagos State project. This is done weekly while this would be done here every two months which is totally different from our own at the local government Ounje Eko project.
“The Ounje Eko takes place every Sunday and it’s a grassroots project initiated by the Lagos State government to alleviate poverty from the grassroots. We also visit marketplaces and assist women whose items are not up to N20,000. We give them N50,000 and also train youths on vocational skills with start-up stipend provided for them,” he said.