By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Lagos, suffocating in coronavirus lockdown, is also groaning under rising food prices, this time not because of inflation or disruption in supply, but because policemen collect bribe before allowing food transporters road passage.
A 50kg bag of garri, cassava flour – the cheapest and commonest poor man’s food across Nigeria, North and South – has doubled in price from N6,000 to N12,000 in some parts of Lagos.
Garri costs more in other parts of the megacity. The prices of other staple foods, such as rice, beans, bread, and eggs have also hiked.
“Food prices have gone up because policemen collect bribe at checkpoints which add to costs that we have to pass on to customers to make profit,” Peter Ogaa, a foodstuff seller in the Ojodu area of Lagos, told TheNiche.
President Muhammadu Buhari exempts food transporters from movement restrictions in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States but they say policemen force them to pay bribe or else both vehicles and foodstuffs are impounded.
Federal and state relief materials are thin on the ground for residents in lockdown, despite promises by Abuja and Lagos officials.
Cash cushions being handed out by the government in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States are a mirage in Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria, also the continent’s most populous nation.
Instead, apart from extorting money from them, traders say, policemen also demand food items, such as loaves of bread and crates of eggs, when they sight them in vehicles.
Again, because the police fail to do their job of protecting people, residents of some parts of Lagos are compelled to form vigilante groups to stay awake all night and defend their homes against bandits ferreting for cash.
Rice, beans, bread
A 700g family size loaf of bread produced by small scale bakers has risen in price from N250 to N300.
The 800g Family Loaf produced by Mr Bigg’s, a brand under UAC Restaurants, now costs N350 instead of N300.
“A 50kg bag of Nigerian rice that we used to buy for between N14,000 and N15,000 now costs N21,000,” Ogaa told TheNiche.
“The price of a 50kg bag of imported rice has risen from N22,000 to N28,000.
“A 50kg bag of beans now costs N14,700 instead of N8,500.
“The price of a 50kg bag of garri has doubled from N6,000 to N12,000.
“Food prices have increased because policemen collect bribe from truck drivers bringing foodstuff in bulk to Lagos from other states. Policemen also collect bribe from retailers conveying food items within Lagos.
“The federal government says vehicles conveying food items are not affected by the restrictions on movement, but policemen stop them at checkpoints during the day in order to collect bribe.
“In day time, they detain some trucks in Shagamu [in Ogun State] to collect money from the drivers at night when people cannot see them, before they allow the vehicles to travel on to Lagos.
“When I bring in food items from the depot in Agege [another area of Lagos], policemen also stop the vehicle at checkpoints and will not allow it to move until I pay the bribe they demand.”
Succour in other countries
- The European Union (EU) has a Euro 550 billion stimulus package for citizens.
- The UK has earmarked £350 billion from which all workers will be paid 80 per cent of their salary for three months.
- Hong Kong is giving out $1,000 to citizens.
- In the US, there is a Coronavirus Aid, Relief, And Economic Security (CARES) Act which contains stimulus worth $2.2 trillion.
- Stimulus cheques of up to $1,200 ($2,400 for joint tax returns) and $500 for each qualifying child are being sent to Americans with adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less.
- Those with little or no tax liability get $1,200 ($2,400 for joint tax returns).
In Nigeria, palliative hardly in sight
Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed disclosed on April 6 that Nigeria had requested $6.9 billion from international lenders to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The EU has since donated Euro 30 million (N21 billion) to Nigeria to help fight the disease. The donation is in form of medical equipment and provision of structures.
Early April, Aso Rock confirmed that Nigerian donors alone have contributed over N15 billion to the COVID-19 Relief Fund.
Yet, palliatives promised by the federal and state governments are either not in sight or too little to cater for 20 million Lagosians, now in three straight weeks of lockdown, which may still extend beyond April 27, at the end of the fourth week.
Buhari on April 13 directed that one million more Nigerians should benefit from Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme, in which the government gives out N20,000 monthly to the poor.
“The current social register will be expanded from 2.6 million households to 3.6 million households in the next two weeks. This means we will support an additional one million homes with our social investment programmes,” he said.
Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Minister, Sadiya Farouq, clarified that the focus will now be more on the urban poor.
However, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) reports that since the CCT began in 2016, the distribution formula has been 83 per cent to the North and 17 per cent to the South.
This ignores the fact that over 80 per cent of federal resource and tax-based revenues are generated in the South – where there are also plenty poor people.
Farouq disclosed in Abuja on April 14 that three methods will be used in selecting beneficiaries of the CCT – National Social Register (NSR), Bank Verification Number (BVN), and history of telephone credit recharge.
Her words: “We have three options; one, we are going to use the national social register that we already have.
“Two, we are also going to focus on the urban poor … by using their verified BVN accounts to get them; that is, people that have an account balance of N5,000 and below.
“We are also using the mobile networks, to know people that top up the credit units for their phones with maybe N100 or less. Those are also people that we consider to be poor and vulnerable.
“I am sure that by the time we get this data we will be able to give this intervention.”
However, Farouq stressed, only 25 per cent – or 50 million – of the 200 million population will benefit for now, with plans to expand the scope in due course.
Nigerians complain that the interventions do not go far enough.
“The government’s failure to disclose key details of the cash transfer programme has also cast doubt on how many people it includes and who will benefit,” said Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the US.
“Millions of Nigerians observing the COVID-19 lockdown lack the food and income that their families need to survive,” added Anietie Ewang, the group’s Nigeria researcher.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, announced on April 15 that the government will feed 100,000 youths daily, in a state of 20 million residents.
He also said unconditional cash transfer would be made to 250,000 vulnerable residents and economically challenged persons who have identification numbers with the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA).
Lagosians hardly see the delivery of the promises. Instead, some are having to defend their homes against thieves.
Vigilante groups
Wasiu Kolawole, a resident of the Iju-Ishaga area of the city, said he had hoped to spend the lockdown to interact more with his wife and four children, because, as a commercial bus driver, most days he leaves home early and returns late.
Another confronted him when a criminal gang invaded a nearby street to rob residents of their belongings.
“I woke up around 1am and I heard some neighbours screaming and calling for people to come out and defend them. It was like a movie scene.
“I made my way to the entrance of the house and found out that other neighbours were all out with weapons [such as machetes and clubs],” Kolawole told Al Jazeera.
“I quickly ran back into the house to fetch my machete and joined other residents to form a barricade to prevent the hoodlums from invading our street. We stayed awake until 7am before dispersing to our homes.”
The quick mobilisation resulted in Kolawole and his immediate neighbours not coming under attack – unlike residents of two nearby streets.
Armed with clubs, machetes and iron rod, the robbers ransacked homes, carted away valuables and injured some residents who put up a fight.
That was not the first time the community was targeted by criminal gangs. Kolawole acquired his machete, which he keeps close to his bedside, after being robbed in 2018.
With similar attacks also taking place in other areas of Lagos during the lockdown, some residents have now formed vigilante groups to keep guard against possible neighbourhood looters.
Residents in Alagbado, another suburb, said they have also taken on the responsibility of defending their homes following an attack by a group of bandits.
“My decision to join the vigilante is to protect my home because … the government is not doing its job,” Awosusi Ahmed, a resident, told Al Jazeera.
“I would have been in my own abode, sleeping, with the confidence that the police are doing their job. But since I’ve not received any help from the police, and I’m not expecting any help from them as well, I have to be strong.”
