Bread bakers in Kano State, under the auspices of the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria, Kano Chapter, have called on the government to intervene in the rising cost flour and other ingredients used in baking bread.
Secretary of the association, Kabiru Hassan Abdullahi, said the price of a bag of flour has steeply moved from N9,000 in early 2020 to the current price of over N16,000, a development that has tremendously impacted on the association’s production cost leading to losses.
He appealed to the government to look into the flour milling industry as bread is a staple food in the country in addition to the high employment opportunities the sector has created.
“Government should not allow the business to collapse as it is a source of income to thousands of youths in the State as well as food security to the nation.
“Moreso, in this period of security challenges, allowing our business to collapse is dangerous,” he said.
He said the group is strategizing on how to increase the price of bread for their businesses to survive.
According to him, the association had the option to shut down business and subsequently increase the price because of market forces, but in order not to render thousands of youths jobless, which could be a threat to peaceful coexistence of the State, they decided to bear the brunt, remain in business, strategically increase the price and minimize the impact on the masses.
The Secretary, however, disclosed that after holding a general meeting, the association had directed its members to meet with the grassroot bakers in ten days’ time in a bid to come up with a unified price increment that would not have a negative impact on the State’s populace.
“After our general meeting, we directed our members to intimate the grassroot bread bakers in a bid to come up with a unified price increment that would not affect the masses negatively.
“We asked the members not to shut down their businesses; they should continue production until 10th of July,” he said.
He disclosed that the association had tried severally to meet with the managements of the flour companies in a bid to bring down the price, but their efforts were futile as the mills cited COVID-19 as the reason why the meeting could not hold.
The Secretary wondered why the price of flour was N9,000 from late 2019 and early 2020 when the dollar exchange rate was N400 or above, but has now reached over N16,000 while the dollar rate is still not more than N500.
He called on flour millers, especially the management and founder/Chairman of BUA Group of Companies, Adul Samad Rabiu, to reduce the price of flour products as well as improve on the supply of the market:
“I want to draw the attention of Abdussamad to consider the plight of the masses and reduce the price of the flour.
“He should also open door for us, the bread bakers, to be doing business directly with his company.”
A baker, Abubakar Bello Ja’en, who is the manager of ABJ Bread, said the business is encountering a number of problems, majorly the increase in the price of flour.
He disclosed that the association had informed them that there would be no strike, but they must increase the price of bread in order to save their businesses.
He said the decision to increase the price is not the preferred choice of the association, but rather the bakers wanted the price of flour to reduce instead of an increase in the price of bread.
