Nigerians have continued to express their displeasure with market women and traders who have refused to reduce the value of their food items, just as the Naira continues to strengthen against the dollar at the Forex market.
KemiFilani recalls that prices of food items and other commodities have increased significantly over the past months as the value of the country’s currency continues to decline.
Recall that the dollar in March hit a record high, exchanging at N1950 to a dollar.
Many traders attributed the sharp increase in the prices of commodities to the plummeting value of the naira.
However, since the naira has continued to strengthen against the dollar, some traders have yet to adjust their price to reflect the current value of the naira.
Speaking with KemiFilani on Friday, a trader who simply identified herself as Iya Shina explained that she had not adjusted the prices of her items because she had yet to sell out the items she bought when the dollar sold for about N1,900.
“The reason i am still selling at the old price is because the thing i bought last month when dollar was very high i have not finished selling them,” she said.
However, Adeola, a resident of the Makoko area of Yaba, expressed her displeasure with Nigerian traders who have refused to lower their prices despite the drop in the value of the dollar.
“We are our own problem in this country. Most of the time, we are very quick to blame the government, but when the dollar’s price came down, those people selling rice and other things refused to bring down their prices,” she said.
For his part, Adedotun, who seemed outraged by some market women still selling their commodities at very high prices, called on the government to create a task force that would monitor and ensure that citizens were not being exploited.
” The government has done well by ensuring that the dollar’s price crashes. However, it does not stop there because many Nigerians are greedy. I feel the government should set up a taskforce that will be responsible for ensuring that traders and market women engage in fair pricing,” he said.
