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By Chinyere Anyanwu [email protected]
With few days to Christmas, high cost of food and transportation occasioned by the lingering fuel scarcity seem to be taking the shine off the yuletide celebrations for many Nigerians.
Consumers who had been contending with rising cost of living have been thrown into hardship, a situation that is threatening to rob them of the joy accompanying this season.
The fuel scarcity which started around October has driven transportation cost up by over 100 per cent. This in turn has jerked up food prices and other aspects of living as movement of goods and people depend solely on transportation.
In addition to the rising cost of production, moving produced food items from farms to the market involves the use of transportation. This accounts for the doubling of prices of these foodstuff. A check at various markets across some regions of the country show that food, which is the main attraction of the yuletide, is gradually being priced out of the reach of many average households.
A 50kg bag of locally produced rice which sold for between N26,000 and N27,000 during the third quarter of the year has risen to between N38,000 and N40,000. Foreign rice of the same size which sold for about N37,000 the same period is now selling for N43,000. A broiler chicken, which sold for around N8,000 last Christmas is selling for about N15,000 this Christmas, while a moderately sized turkey is currently selling for about N55,000 agains the N45,000 it sold last yuletide.
A bag of onions which went for about N35,000 at Mile 12 market in the third quarter of the year is currently selling for around N70,000. A bag of pepper (rodo) which sold for between N40,000 and N45,000 is now going for around N70,000 while a basket of tomatoes which went for about N15,000 in the same period is now selling for around N22,000.
Consumers who are caught up in this challenging situation are showing their displeasure at their inability to enjoy the kind of Christmas celebration they would have loved to have.
Mr. James Okonkwo, an Oyingbo/Oto foodstuff trader, while speaking to Daily Sun on the impact of the fuel scarcity and consequent which cost of food, said patronage is very low.
Okonkwo said, “We are just few days to Christmas yet sales have been slow. The current economic situation is responsible for this. In previous years, by now, the market would have been bustling with activities with buyers everywhere and sellers making good sales, but this time around, we don’t even feel there’s anything unique like Christmas going on. The cash crunch and high cost of goods is affecting the patronage we usually enjoy from consumers during seasons like this. This yuletide is not looking to be flamboyant as we know it.”
For Miss Queeneth Odafe, a consumer, Christmas can never be the same owing to the prevailing high cost of living. According to her, “it’s unfortunate that fuel scarcity, which contributes majorly to driving the price of food and other consumables upward, has become a recurring decimal every yuletide season. Cost of transportation and prices of food items are biting harder by the day but no matter how hard the prices of things climb, we must celebrate Christmas. Worst case scenario, you do your Christmas as your power reach. No go do pass yourself.”
Though the situation may not be rosy for some people, for Chidinma Okeke, a trader who deals on provisions in Oke Arin Market in Lagos Island, this year’s yuletide sales seem to be favourable and encouraging.
With enthusiasm, she noted that, “sales this Christmas have been encouraging. Compared to last year, I’m recording better sales this season, the transportation challenges and high cost of things notwithstanding. The only thing that is slightly affecting sales in Lagos Island markets is the difficulty buyers are experiencing coming to the Island due to the blocked roads. Customers who would have come to the Island to shop rather go to Trade Fair or Alaba International when they remember the high cost of transportation and stress of coming to the Island. All the same, business has been good.”
Christmas and New Year celebrations may not come this year with all the razzmatazz they are known for but for Nigerians who are adept at devising ways of catching their fun, this yuletide could still give them what they want.
