With the coming of the Yuletide and approaching New Year celebration, some residents of Port- Harcourt have cried out over high cost of commodity items, especially those shopping for the last minute for the Christmas.
At Rumuola Market, Vivian Anyiaku , a trader explained that things have changed with the economic situation of the country, especially with the close of borders. She added that apart from the harsh economic reality, December period each year always comes with high cost of commodity items.
In her words, “Every December, they add money on what we sell. The vegetable oil that we sell for instance, three liters is N2,400, before it was N 1,900 naira, . We sell five liters N 3,500 before we sold it N3000.
“I don’t like the way everything is because It is affecting us. When you tell customers they would argue and go away. Some of them would return to confirm to us that it is the same. This is a time we are supposed to be selling and smiling, but the money is not there for many people.
But a buyer, Miss Patience Njoku, who spoke on the development, said that things are really expensive in the market this season. According to her, “the cabbage we used to but N200 is now N500, even the carrots. They sell very small pieces for N200. Prices of food stuffs are generally discouraging, but then what do we do? As you can see, I am not happy.“
Another shopper, Mrs. Boma Andrew Emmanuel, a civil servant, stated that, hike in prices of commodities did not just start today. She said that , for her, cost of items did not come as a surprise .
She appealed to the federal government to relax the ban on importation of commodity items, saying Nigerians can hardly bear with prolonged border closure especially with her weak currency.
Mrs. Boma advised families to spend wisely and remember that the Christmas and the New Year seasons would not always be about eating and drinking. According to her, families should plan ahead for payment of school fees of their children and other bills waiting to be settled.
In his own observation, Mr. Abraham Smart acknowledged that the economy was responsible for the high cost of living Nigerians are experiencing. He appealed to government to work to ensure the stabilization of price of food items and make the economy work again.
“ I come around to buy goat meat for my family. No matter what it is, families must feed. It is true that thing are expensive and we need to get the system working again.
