As his co-passengers who were apparently anxious to reach their respective destinations on time began to scold him for keeping them waiting so long, Atidade could not but leave depressed and cursing: “What is happening? I never anticipated this kind of thing. Is this not Lokoja again? No, something must be happening somewhere. Was it not here that I bought fish last September? Heeh! So, fish could be this expensive in Lokoja? I cannot afford to buy these fish o. How would I explain this to my wife? Or should I buy them? No, it is too expensive. Let me just forget about it today”, he resolved.
No sooner had Atidade left than another set of passengers from Abuja took over the scene. Alighting from the bus, one of them, Mrs Comfort Joseph, on sighting the fish, ecstatically regaled thus: “Yes, we are in Lokoja, the fish city. I never miss it. This is where we buy fish at a price almost three times cheaper than what obtains in Benin. I beg, driver, let me make use of this opportunity. Madam, how much are these fishes? N1, 200? Habah! You fit kill somebody o. Is it not the same fish we used to buy at a very cheap rate? Na wa o”.
These are few of the expressions of shock and disappointment customers make about the steep prices of fish in Lokoja. Their surprise may not be unconnected with their illusion that since the confluence city is surrounded by riversides, fish must automatically be less expensive there than in any other part of the country.
The soaring prices of fish in the town is not a concern for the buyers alone as men and women who eke out a living from fish business, are equally battling with the situation which they describe as never-like-this-before. Looking pale worried and downcast, they are obviously grumbling about low sales. Nearly all of them complain that the business is no longer booming as it used to be. According to them, customers are angry over the high prices of fish.
One of these fish mongers, 58-year-old Madam Fatimah Abubakar, was quick to lament the low patronage confronting her and co-businesswomen. “The fact is that we the fish mongers, are encountering this problem for the first time. I have been in this business for almost 30 years. The patronage has never been this poor. If I must tell the truth, our low patronage is due to the increasing prices of fish. Many of the customers these days cannot afford the prices we sell our fish. It is not our fault. We sell our fish based on the rate we buy them from fishermen. Our problem is that it is difficult to convince customers about this. We just pray that our customers understand and bear with us”, she said.
For a middle-age widow, Lateefat AbdulKareem, the high price of fish in Lokoja may soon force her out of the business she has been engaged in to take care of her family since her husband deid in 1999. Lateefat doubts whether she can survive the reality staring fish mongers in the face. She laments that the rise in prices of fish is threatening her economic power.
“It is a pity I don’t have any other job. I don’t think I can survive what we the fish mongers, are passing through. We are not happy that fish are expensive because it is affecting our sales. Fish that we used to sell for N250 now sells for about N700. From the look of things, one can be tempted to assume that people are no more eating fish again. When the business was booming, I used to make enough money to take care of my children and that is why it has not been too difficult for me to face the challenges of being a widow. But now, the high rate of fish prices, which has dwindled my sales and profits, is making me search for an alternative means of livelihood”, she lamented.
Hajiah Sakirat Abdullahi, a fish monger at Pata market in Lokoja, gives an insight into why fish prices keep skyrocketing. She says so many fishermen have opted out of the job; a factor she says has drastically led to low fishing activities around the capital city.
“Honestly, hard days are here for us fish mongers. These days, there are fewer people engaged in fishing than before. I cannot explain why this is so, but that is what I think has compelled the remaining few fishermen, from whom we buy fresh fish, to increase the prices. We have no choice but to also increase our own prices and that is why fish is expensive all over Lokoja”, she explained.
Mr Adamu Alao, a civil servant, who believes that the sharp rise in the prices of fish is not inseparable from the general high cost of living in Lokoja, however, contends that fish mongers have jerked up prices due to the believe that majority of their customers are Abuja-based people who are believed to have much money.
“We should not forget that Lokoja is a transit city with close proximity to Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory. There are many people who often come to Lokoja from Abuja to buy fish believing that fish is very cheap here, but the fish mongers too have woken up to know that these people from Abuja have a lot of money”, Alao explained.
Confirming this, one of the roadside fish mongers in the city, Abike Adebayo, says customers who can afford to come all the way from Abuja to buy fish in Lokoja should not expect a cheap deal. “Yes, many of our customers come from Abuja. Don’t they have money? There is money in Abuja. Abuja-based people are used to high cost of living. We believe that they should be able to pay whatever amount we decide to sell fish to them. I think they should just change their mentality that fish is too cheap in Lokoja. Otherwise, they would be disappointed”, she cautioned.
Fishermen say the rise in the prices of fish in the confluence city has much more to do with the on-going dredging of the lower river Niger than any other factors. How? According to some of them who spoke to our correspondent, fish have acquired the wisdom of lying dormant deep inside the river since the dredging commenced; a situation they say is responsible for the reduction in the number of fish they catch on a daily basis. One of them who simply identified himself as Yakubu, confirmed: “We are not finding it easy nowadays. I think the fishes too are beginning to be play wisely. What I have observed is that since the beginning of the Lower River Niger dredging, fishes have refused to come to where we would easily catch them. These fish have simply learnt to go deep down the river. They no longer fall prey to our hooks and nets. Unfortunately, this has continued to spoil the business for us.
“Before the dredging commenced, I used to catch at least 600 fishes daily, but now, it is difficult to catch up to 200. That is why we have increased prices of our fresh fish. My fear is that a time may come when there would be no fish to catch again. You know what that mean? It means those who believe Lokoja is a city of fish would have to start looking elsewhere”, he said.
Another fisherman, Lukman Muhammed, says he and his colleagues in the business have decided to increase prices owing to a corresponding increase in the prices of such tools as hooks and nets. “You cannot blame us. The prices of our tools have gone up too. For instance, a hook that I used to buy for N500 now sells for about N1, 600. So, why won’t we increase fish prices”? He enquired.
The Director of Fishery, Kogi State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Ahmed Ejigah, says Lokoja fish are expensive because of their peculiarities in terms of quality. “For instance, our fishermen go to the river with their tools to smoke fish right there so that those fish do not deteriorate in nutritional value. Even customers from outside would tell you Lokoja fish are incomparable to those from other places”, he asserted.
The fishery director noted that to boost fish production in the state, the government, apart from training fishermen and fish farmers, also assists them financially. According to him, each trained fisherman was recently given between N200, 000 and N500, 000 to establish their own fish farms, saying that it is a continuous gesture.
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