By Pascal Oparada
Nigerians are bracing up for Christmas. The event marks the birth of Jesus Christ.
However, it is being marred by spike in prices of food stuff and other essentials needed for the celebration.
Checks by TheNiche reveal that a bag of rice which sold for N14,000 before Christmas now goes for N22,500 for a 50 kg bag.
The federal government in November approved the sum of N60 billion as subsidy for rice to force down the price of the commodity this Christmas season.
The effect of the subsidy is not being felt as Nigerians lament that the cost of rice has increased by 30 per cent in the last 20 days.
Five litres of vegetable oil which hitherto sold for N3,500 now goes for between N4,500 to N5,000.
Prices of tomotoes, salt, and pepper have also tripled.
A carton of frozen chicken was sold for N7,000 but it is now sold for between N10,000 to N12,000.
Those TheNiche spoke to lamented the harsh economic conditions and said they will celebrate the event in a low key as they cannot afford most of the commodities.
“I am at a loss how to go about this Christmas,” one Mrs. Dorothy Ehime told TheNiche at Ogba market in Ikeja, Lagos.
“Everything you want to buy has almost doubled in price, even salt,” Ehiame lamented.
Uche Ogbu, a foodstuff dealer, said the hike is not just due to Christmas, but the exchange rate.
“Normally, you would have a moderate price hike during Christmas, but not as you have it these past three years. I think the price hike is due to exchange rate.
“We import most things from rice to canned tomatoes and other essentials in our shop”, Ogbu said.
When asked whether he sells locally produced rice in his shop, Ogbu said he has been in foodstuff business for over eight years and has never sold local rice because they are not available.
“Where do you see local rice in the market?” Ogbu asked. “Ask those government officials who say Nigeria is almost self-sufficient in rice production when last they ate local rice”, Ogbu told TheNiche.
Aside the hike in prices of commodities, Lagos residents are grappling with crippling gridlock on all the roads in the state.
The Lagos State government appears helpless as the situation has worsened in recent weeks after the conduct of party primaries in the state which saw the defeat of the incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.
A trip of about 45 minutes now takes up to two hours, sometimes longer.
Residents lamented the hardship they experience on daily basis in the state, saying it seems the government has allowed things to degenerate since they know they are not coming back in 2019.
Okon Okon, a tricycle operator in Ikeja told TheNiche that he dreads leaving his house everyday due to the gridlock.
“Lagos has never been like this during any Christmas. Normally, during this time, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) is more effective, ensuring free flow of traffic,” Okon said.
“Ambode may be angry because he lost the party’s ticket. But that does not mean he should allow things to go out of hand”, he sad.
Okon said residents are dying in instalment in the state due to the lackadaisical attitude on the part of the government.
