Border closure: Traders groan as rice, groundnut oil price soar in Lagos, Ogun

Abiola Seun

The price of rice, a staple in the diets of nearly half of the country’s population, has doubled in the market in the last few days due to the joint border exercise embarked upon buy the security and intelligence gathering operatives.

The operation tagged, OPERATION JOINT SWIFT, led by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS),had restricted smuggling of rice, vegetable Oil into the country for the last two weeks.

A trader at Sango Otta market, Dorcas Oladipupo, claimed that a bag of rice which formally sold for 13,000 is now sold at N20,000.

Dorcas stated that the high presence of security agencies at the border affected the price of the rice in the neighbourhood.

“The price of rice has made things very difficult as a pint of rice that goes for N800 now sells for N2000. I don’t even know how much I will gain after I sell this one, “she added.

Another trader Uche Dominic, a trader at Daleko market, Mushin, complained about the restriction.

According to him, he gets rice from Benin Republic at the rate of N12,000 and sells for N13,500 but now, its difficult to get fresh supplies.

He said, “Rice increased from N13,000 to N26,000 and is now being sold for N18,000 while some sell 20,000 depending on the stock you have at hand.”

Uche said that of all what he sells, the product that sells more is rice.

“They refuse to buy local rice because it is too expensive to afford. Even vegetable oil is also hard to come by because the price has gone up.”

Another trader who specializes in vegetable oil, Emmanuel Onyebuchi, said it has been difficult getting supplies from Benin Republic.

He said his suppliers told him it has been difficult getting the oil across to his place at Ile- Epo, Lagos.

“It has been difficult for us, business has been on the low side, we sell a 50kg of oil for N12,500 what use to sell N9,500,” he complained