BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A group of professional bakers in Osun State has described those behind the recent increase in the price of bread in some parts of the country as greedy and selfish.
Lukman Salaudeen, spokesman to the Albadr Bakers, a splinter group of bread bakers that maintained the old price of bread in the state, alleged that the Association of Master Bakers in Osun of unjustly hiking the price of bread.
Salaudeen said that the Albadr group decided to maintain the prevailing prices of bread in order not to increase people’s hardship.
He said, “It’s just unfortunate that most of our people are not considerate about the plights of Nigerians who consume bread. We are in this business together and I am telling you that if we maintain the current prices, we will still make our gains.
“But, because they are greedy, selfish and unpatriotic, they increased the prices. Go to the north and ask how much are they selling. It is out of the interest of the people that we are not increasing the prices of bread and nobody would force us to do otherwise.”
It was learnt by our correspondent that Aanu Olu Bread, Agbowo area of Iwo, owned by a member of Albadr group in Iwo, was attacked by some members of master bakers for refusing to hike the price of their products.
The chairman of master bakers, Ganiyu Onaopepo, said that the decision to jerk the price was as a result of rise in prices of flour, yeast, butter and other ingredients, as well as the high tax rate being charged by the state government.
“Anyone who says that we are greedy should be investigated. You know there are certain ingredients that government has warned us not to add to bread. These people should be checked to see whether they are really doing the right thing.
“In January, a bag of flour that sold for N12, 000 is now being sold for N21, 000. The price of sugar rose from N15, 000 to N22, 000; yeast rose from N500 to N1, 100; butter is now sold for N21, 000 from N12, 500.
“Across the South West, we had a meeting in August between the bakers and flour sellers. Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Labour were
there.
We told them that the tariff being collected at the port of entry was too high.
“We met the federal government again in view of the rise in dollar. The flour millers have to go to black market to exchange money and it is costlier there. Our members are almost bankrupt; some of them are leaving the business. In Kwara State, some bakeries have already shut down because they could not cope with the cost of production,” he lamented.
