Ramadan: Foodstuff sellers hike prices despite clerics’ appeal

Many Islamic preachers had in their Khutbahs of Friday appealed to traders not to take undue advantage of the Ramadan season to hike prices of foodstuffs. But Sunday Trust investigation in some major markets in Lagos revealed slight increases in the prices of food stuffs as most traders added between N500 and N1000 on the […]

Many Islamic preachers had in their Khutbahs of Friday appealed to traders not to take undue advantage of the Ramadan season to hike prices of foodstuffs.

But Sunday Trust investigation in some major markets in Lagos revealed slight increases in the prices of food stuffs as most traders added between N500 and N1000 on the prices.

In Iyana-Ipaja, Ikotun, Oshodi and Ikeja markets rice sellers added N500 to the various types of rice. A bag of rice sold for N9000 from the hitherto N8,500 or N8,500 from N8000.

Also, a bag of beans now sold for between N9,500 and N8500 from the hitherto N9000 and N7000 in the Lagos markets. The same goes for other food stuffs.

Alhaji Hassan Adeoti, the secretary of the Iyana-Ipaja market, told Sunday Trust that the increase in prices food stuffs was not deliberately done by the traders but,”due to the situation in the country.”

However, he said the hike in prices of food stuffs was due to the increase in transport fares by commercial drivers in the city.

But our correspondent gathered that transport fares within the city and from the city to other parts of the south-west still remained as they were some weeks ago.

A resident of the city, Mrs Nimah Adeola told our correspondent she was stunned by the sudden increases in the prices of food stuffs as, according to her, she did not see any justifiable reason why the traders should hike the prices.

She said that traders only seized the opportunity afforded by the high level of demand in food stuffs during this period to hike the prices.

She advised traders to fear God and also called on the government to set up a price regulatory agency to control prices of food stuffs.

It would be recalled that Islamic clerics had repeatedly appealed to food stuffs sellers to desist from deliberately hiking prices of food stuffs during Ramadan.