The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has blamed smugglers and grain hoarders for being responsible for persistent hikes in food prices in Nigeria.
Tunji Bello, Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC made the blame at a town hall meeting with industry leaders, micro, small and medium enterprises, MSMEs, market heads, farmers, transporters, and service providers on Wednesday in Kano.
Bello said: “In addition to grain hoarding, also identified price fixing and artificial barriers imposed by market associations, such as entrance levies, as other unethical practices.
“FCCPC investigators had discovered that some grain merchants were stockpiling newly harvested grains in warehouses to create artificial scarcity, exacerbating food inflation in Nigeria.
“Don’t get us wrong; we are by no means saying everyone is guilty here. We only have a few bad eggs involved in such unethical practices.
“Without caring for the consequences of their action on fellow countrymen and women, some of these unscrupulous actors go as far as taking some of the food items they had mopped up from the farmers or the markets and smuggling them across the borders to sell at premium, thereby endangering our national food security,” Bello added.
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