VIDEO: How Traders At Lagos Fresh Food Hub Are Cheating Customers, Hiking Prices

Eko Hot Blog reports that Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, has accused traders at the Fresh Food Agro-Hub in Alakara Idi-Oro, in the Mushin area of Lagos, of manipulating the market and hiking prices of food items for consumers.

She was recently filmed making the allegation while addressing a group of sellers.

Recall that the Lagos State government had kicked off the fresh food initiative under the Produce-4-Lagos scheme, in partnership with Niger and Kwara states, with a view to bridging food supply-demand gaps.

The government provides free spaces to traders at the hub and partners with Momo, a payment platform, to allow sellers to give 25% discount to buyers on their purchases.

However, the Lagos agriculture commissioner said about 70% of sellers are not allowing enough buyers to benefit from the discount and are taking advantage of buyers, despite government’s support, and free space to display their products.

According to Ms. Olusanya, some sellers at the Fresh Food Hub are selling low-cost food items that are supposed to benefit consumers to market women who in turn hike the prices when selling to residents.

The commissioner, who lamented that the traders have deviated from the plan and pact with the state government, asked any seller who cannot adhere to the conditions to leave the food hub.

“You want change in Nigeria, but you’re not ready to be part of that change. You want to take advantage of your fellow Nigerians,” Ms. Olusanya scolded the traders.

“We did not put officials in the market to give people back 25 per cent 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 per cent automatically. But more than 70 per cent of you are refusing to use it, and it’s 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. That is why your level of commitment is low because you are getting it free.

“If we are to charge you to sell here, you will not do what you are doing. You want to destroy our effort. It is painful that you 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.”

Continuing, she said: “We gave some market women N50,000 each on Saturday, February 25, but they sold food items to market women who will sell at a higher price.

“We are the architects of our own problem, and you are the same people that will say politicians are bad. Be the change you want to see. When we announce 25 per cent discount, let it work. If you’re not ready to let it work, leave. Don’t stay here. Go and stay in your market or farm. Stop ripping off people. We spent so much 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. It’s unfair that many are choosing to circumvent and take advantage.”

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