The National Food Security Council has attributed the bulk purchase of food commodities for COVID-19 palliatives as one of the factors responsible for the higher costs in the country.
Jigawa State Governor Abubakar Badaru, who represents the northwest in the council, spoke on Tuesday while fielding questions from State House reporters after a meeting at the State House, Abuja.
Badaru said the Coalition Against COVID-19, the federal and state governments were all involved in the bulk purchase of food items for onward distribution as coronavirus palliatives, a development he observed led to increased costs.
He, however, expressed confidence that the situation would change as more commodities were arriving at the markets with the beginning of harvest season.
Badaru, while reacting to a question, said: “Let me explain further on the prices of food crops. You’ll not see it (drop in prices) immediately living in the cities, living in Abuja. You’ll not see the prices drop immediately because there’s always transition between drop in the price and on the counter price dropping.
“Prices started dropping at the local markets. It has to be bought, it has to be transported. If you’ve an existing stock, you’ll not lose money and drop the price. They’ll wait until they’ve exhausted the stock or there is a lot of the produce in the market, then they’ll be forced to drop the prices.”
The NFSC Vice Chairman and Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu, said the prices of goods were coming down based on the data obtained and made available to him.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the reduction of the cost of fertilizer from N5,500 to N5,000 per bag.
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