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Economy

Why Cost of Foodstuff is High in the Market- Dealers

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By Joseph Amah, Abuja 

Traders under the aegis of Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria  (AUFCDN) have said the current escalating cost of foodstuff in Nigeria can be traced to the cost of production and transportation. 

According to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics  (NBS), Nigeria’s food inflation as at March 2022 was 17.

20 per cent.
This figure many Nigerians have said is under statement going by the high cost of food in the market exacerbated by the recent fuel scarcity that rocked the nation.

National President  of the union, Dr. Muhammad Tahir Ibrahim, who spoke with The Guardian in an interview in his office in Abuja over the weekend, said it is wrong to blame traders for the rising cost of food in Nigeria.

 

According to him, “Let us take cattle for instance, do you know we have fewer cows in Nigeria now because of the activities of Boko haram and bandits rustling cows in states like Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna,  Kano and Zamfara. I can tell you most of these cows you see in Nigeria are imported from Chad, Niger and Cameroon. “You can imagine a cow that we sold before for N150,000, is now selling for more than N200,000, in the north, if you go down south, the price is something else. “He said apart from the cost of the foreign exchange to import the cows, cost of transportation has gone high over the roof.

In his words, “Before now you can transport a trailer load of cows from the north to the south for just between N150,000 and N200,000. Today as I am talking to you, it cost over one million to charter trailer that will carry your cow from the north to the south. “The trailer owners will tell you the cost of diesel has gone up, the roads are bad and the cost of spare parts are also high.

“As a rice farmer, in March this year I bought a bag of urea fertiliser for N15,000, just yesterday  (Thursday May 5 2022), I bought the same bag of urea fertiliser for N22,000. If you go to buy other agrochemicals,  the cost is also jumping higher and higher. “So what do we do? You cannot after spending so much to buy the goods or to produce, you take them to the market and sell it cheap, you must recover your cost and of course add something on top for your efforts.

“Dr. Ibrahim also complained of the incidences of multiple taxation which he said is also contributing to the high cost of food in the market. He said there are so many security as well as illegal revenue agents on the road exporting money from traders as they move their goods from one state to the other.

“We are not saying we will not pay tax, but let it be at the point of loading and at the point of discharging the goods. Why should state revenue officials compel us to pay tax for just passing through their state on a federal highway? Why should security agents be demanding money from us when we are not carrying contraband goods?

These are the problems and we are calling on both federal and state governments to come to our aid by stopping all those illegal charges on the road and to make the rail work, especially between the north and south. If we are moving our goods by rail it will be far cheaper for us and that will drive down prices.”

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Economy

Investors Gain N183bn on NGX

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The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion.

Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N59.532 trillion, gained N184 billion or 0.31 per cent to close at N59.715 trillion.

The All-Share Index also added 0.31 per cent or 303 points, to settle at 98,509.

68, against 98,206.
97 recorded on Tuesday.

Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 31.

74 per cent.

Gains in Aradel Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa(UBA), Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries among other advanced equities drove the market performance up.

Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers and 17 losers.

On the gainers’ chart, Africa Prudential, Conoil and RT Briscoe led by 10 per cent each to close at N14.30, N352 and N2.42 per share, respectively.

Golden Guinea Breweries followed by 9.95 per cent to close at N7.18, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share.

On the other hand, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N155.25, Secure Electronic Technology Plc trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at 57k per share.

Multiverse lost 7.63 per cent to close at N5.45, Haldane McCall dropped 6.07 per cent to close at N4.95 and Honeywell Flour shed 5.62 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.

Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 49.44 per cent.

A total of 320.10 million shares valued at N6.48 billion were exchanged in 7,943 deals, compared with 939.41 million shares valued at N12.81billion traded in 9,098 deals posted in the previous session.

Meanwhile, ETranzact led the  activity chart in volume with 70.27 million shares, while Aradel led in value of deals worth N1.22 billion.(NAN)

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Economy

Yuan Weakens to 7.1870 Against Dollar

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The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened 22 pips to 7.1870 against the dollar on Monday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.
(Xinhua/NAN)

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Economy

Bring Kaduna Refinery Back into Operation, Youth Group Urges NNPCL

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Arewa Youths Initiative for Energy Reforms (AYIFER), has urged  Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL)  to do everything possible to bring Kaduna Refinery back into operation.

National Coordinator of the group, Mr Bashir Al’Amin, stated this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.

Al’Amin specifically called on the Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, to do all within his powers to rejuvenate the refinery and bring it up to global standard.

He said that having delivered the Port Harcourt refinery, coupled with the establishment of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, attention should be shifted to Kaduna refinery for easy spread of petroleum products.

“We are calling on Malam Mele Kyari to expedite action on Kaduna refinery so we can be at par with other regions in the country.

“We equally beg the NNPCL to do professional work in rehabilitating the old refinery and deliver a standard and functional petrochemical refinery and not a blending plant.

“Kyari should resist any temptation that could make him do something that can jeopardise his good image,” he said.

Al’Amin said that since the extinction of groundnut pyramid and textiles in Kano State as well as PAN in Kaduna State and with the Kaduna refinery getting moribund, a lot of youths had lost their jobs.

According to him, all their hopes in the north are tied to the legacy refinery, expressing the hope that God would use Kyari to deliver it well and on time.

He said that the group was solidly behind NNPCL in prayer and would be ready to celebrate the company if its expectations were met. (NAN)

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