As Nigerians celebrate Christmas, traders across various markets in Nigeria are lamenting poor patronage amid skyrocketing food prices, a sharp contrast to the festive sales experienced in previous years.
In Lagos, Abuja, Osun, Rivers, Edo, Kano, Kaduna, and Sokoto, among other states, traders decried the high cost of food items and ever-increasing food inflation on the jump in the petrol pump prices nationwide.
This came as consumers of food commodities called on the Federal Government to work hard to address the spike in Nigeria’s inflation, as they lamented their inability to buy food items to celebrate Christmas.
At the Bwari market in the Federal Capital Territory, a tomato seller, Ramatu Ali, shared her plight with The PUNCH on Tuesday.
Despite a slight drop in the price of a basket of big Derica fresh tomatoes—from ₦58,000 on Monday to ₦45,000 on Tuesday due to a glut in the market—customers remain scarce.
“By December last year, a basket of tomatoes cost N30,000, and sales were much better. Now, the prices are relatively high, and customers are not coming like before,” Ali lamented.
Similarly, another trader, Mallam Musa, expressed concern about the perishability of his goods.
