Edo Traders Protest Hike In Food Prices

Traders under the umbrella of Ekiosa Market Traders Association, have protested the price hike of food produces, and called on governments and relevant authorities to come to their rescue.
The protesters complained against the activities of ‘evil middlemen and women’, which they said were causing price hike and artificial scarcity in Benin markets.
They also protested against the neglect of their market (Ekiosa Market) by concerned authorities, which got burnt in 2019.
The protesters’ placards had the inscriptions: ‘evil union in Edo market are responsible for hike in food;’ ‘Edo people say no to evil union in our market;’ Edo State government ban evil union in Edo markets;’ ‘we say no to evil union in Edo market.’
They lamented that many of them were stranded due to government’s failure to rebuild their market that got burnt, adding that middlemen and women are making them unproductive.
Addressing journalists when they took the protest to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Press Centre in Benin, Lucky Orukpe, President of Traders Welfare Union, accused the middlemen and women of causing artificial scarcity in Edo market and also price hike in farm produce.
He alleged that these middlemen and women who form unions among themselves are making sure that whoever fails to join their union does not have a place to sell in the market in Benin City.
He said, “Today, in our market, if you bring your farm produce to sell, we have people we call middlemen and women in our market in Edo State. They will compel you to join a union before you can sell your garri; they will compel you to join their union before you can sell your yam.
“If you are not in their union, and you are bringing produce to sell, no vehicle will carry you. When they succeed in compelling you to join their union, they give you time to come to their market.
“Today, farmers are scared to bring farm produce to the market. So, these evil unions are causing artificial scarcity in our market in Edo State.”
Comrade Orukpe, who alleged that the ‘evil middlemen and women’ just devised a new means of operation recently, lamented that due to their activities, food prices are lesser in states that Edo supplies food.
He groaned, “We carry food from Edo State to other states but food is cheaper in these states, this is because of the activities of these middlemen.”
Orukpe, who said these men are not government agents but individuals, urged the state government to as a matter of urgency address the issue before it got out of hand.
Mr. Anthony Agho, President, Ekiosa Market Traders Association, said, “We the Ekiosa Market traders are stranded in the streets. We have nowhere to trade. And they forbid us from selling on the walkway, so how are we going to survive.
“In 2019, Ekiosa Market got burnt, and since then we have been managing. In 2020, Oredo Local Government came and said we should leave the place and that they want to renovate it. Then in January 2024, the local government came and told us that we should leave and that between 4 months the work will be completed, and since then we have been waiting.”