In a concerning development, the Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, has lamented hike in prices of food items as well as sales manipulation by market women at the Fresh Food Hub in Alakara Idi-Oro, Lagos.
The Commissioner accused them of taking advantage of buyers despite the support by the Lagos State Government.
She said free space was also made available for the sellers to display their products.
Olusanya made this known in a video shared online on Wednesday and seen by The Eagle Online.
Recall that the Lagos State Government around December 2023 had launched the initiative under the Produce-4-Lagos Scheme in collaboration with Kwara and Niger States Governments.
According to the state government, the aim was to bridge the food supply-demand gap and to reduce waste.
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The state Governor, Babajide Santo-Olu, also last week in an interview where he spoke on tackling the hardship occasioned by fuel subsidy removal, said the market will now be held more frequently.
However, buyers have complained of unwholesome practices and subversion by the traders and market women since the initiative kicked off.
In her reaction, the Commissioner for Agriculture decried that the traders have deviated from the plan and pacts they had with the state government.
Addressing a group of market women at the Hub, Olusanya said: “We did not put officials in the market to give people back 25 percent after purchasing items.
“This was to avoid being accused of embezzlement.
“We pay MoMo, an innovative online trading platform and commission-free investment App upfront, so that if anybody comes here to use the MoMo platform to pay, they get the 25 percent automatically.
“But more than 70 percent of you are refusing to use it and it is not fair.
“If you don’t like it, leave.
“It is not by force to sell here if you don’t want to use the platform.
“We are not charging you a penny, but your level of commitment is low because you are getting it for free.
“If we are to charge you to sell here, you will not be doing what you are doing.
“You want to destroy our efforts.
“It is painful that we want change in Nigeria, but you don’t want to be part of it.
“You want to take advantage of fellow Nigerians and yet you say the government is the problem.
“We gave some women N50,000 each on Saturday, February 25, but they sold it to people who will sell at a higher price.
“We are the architect of our own problem.
“And you are the people that will say politicians are bad.
“Be the change you want to see.
“When we announced a 25 percent discount, let it work and if you are not ready to let it work, leave.
“Go and sell in your market or on your farm.
“Don’t rip off people.
“We spent so much money and effort on this.
“In the last four weeks, I checked the MoMo statistics and I discovered that only less than N500,000 has been redeemed.
“A lot of people have been coming here unable to access the service.
“I’m not even saying that MoMo platform does not have its own issues.
“It does.
“But it is just unfair that a lot of us are choosing to circumvent and take advantage.
“It is one thing for the MoMo platform, but it is another thing for us to want to sell at this price and you are inflating the price.”
Lagos Commissioner for Agriculture Expresses Concern Over Exploitative Practices at Fresh Food Hub in Mushin
— The Eagle Online (@DEagleOnline) February 29, 2024
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