Food Inflation: Lagos to Trace Distribution, Prices of Food Items to Stem Exploitation

Dike Onwuamaeze

Days after concerns were raised over the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s (FCCPC) perceived move to institute price control, the Lagos State government has announced that it would start to trace the distribution and prices of food items to ensure that consumers are not ripped off.

This was disclosed yesterday by the Lagos State Commissioner of Agriculture, Ms. Bisola Olusanya, who represented the state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the 2024, “LCCI Agric Symposium and Fair.”  

Olusanya said: “Going forward, government has said any support to any farmer has to be with an agreement that we must understand your trail to the market for us to be able to say that ‘yes we supported you with this based on this amount and this is the price you are going to sell in the market.

“The federal, state and local governments invest so much in food production. But we do not follow our investments to the markets.

“What I mean is that we give farmers inputs and we give processors support but we do not follow the products to the markets to ensure that the prices at which these items are being sold are reasonable for average Nigerian.

“We leave the dynamic of pricing to market arbitragers and those who will play at the margins and at the end of the day we say that ‘prices of foods are too high.’”

She said going forward, the state government’s investments should be tailored in such a way that the government would know the markets the beneficiaries are selling their products and the landing price in that market compared to their cost of production.

“We must ensure that with all of our supports, the average Lagosians and Nigerians can see the impact. The average Nigerian out there does not understand that you gave someone a bag of fertilizer, seeds and pesticides.

“The only thing Nigerians wants to hear is that the price of foodstuff is now at this low price,” she said.

Commenting on the various fresh food hubs being set up by the state government, the commissioner added that the government should know what, “the landing cost will be in whatever market they are.

“We should also start tracing the different distributors and dealers that are off taking these products and how much they are being sold to the average market woman/man such that at the end of the day every Logosian and Nigerians will be able to say if this is really overpriced or this is what the real market indices will be.

“That will help us to start to put accountability to everyone in the food value chain. So, it will not be that the middlemen are making the most margins at the expense of the farmer who put in the labour, the sweat and the tears and yet make minimal margins.

“That is what we have seen over the years and the narrative must change. This is why the Lagos State is building the largest food logistic hubs and other middle level hubs, which are actually helping us in terms of tracing to know what food items that are being produced or sourced from elsewhere; what quantities are coming into these hubs, how much they are sold and what is the quantity sold at to various markets where it is going and how the distribution goes.

“It will also help us sit at the table with partners to start to negotiate for the quantity of food that should come in at any point in time and the pricing at which farmers should make margins and be profitable.

“These are some of the things that we are doing and we believe that all us, including the private sector, bilateral and multilateral agencies will work together to ensure that this becomes the norm in the agricultural and food system space in Nigeria,” she said.

Olusnya stated that vendors selling at prices not “regular” would not be allowed to operate at the fresh food hubs.  “The idea around the hub is to enable us to have data on the amount of food coming in and the various value chain categories that can help us to extrapolate going forward toward having proper food reserves and making sure that we have adequate food for Lagosians for a time frame in case of emergency,” she explained.

Olusanya also described the story that Lagos has no land as a myth, explaining that, “it is just that citizens are pushing harder around real estate investment.”