The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has intensified measures to curtail the rising prices of commodities, particularly food products in Nigeria.
Again, the Commission embarked on another investigative mission to ascertain why food prices are still on the rise despite the country witnessing a decrease in foreign exchange rates.
Speaking while visiting Masaka market in Nasarawa state on Friday, the Director of Surveillance, Boladale Adeyinka explained that the visit aims to unravel the complexities behind the sharp increase in food prices
“Well, this is a fact-finding mission and investigative mission to gather information directly from the sources. The firm food price campaign continues as we are seeing the exorbitant prices increase, even though we are seeing that the dollar or the exchange rate is going down.
ALSO READ: JUST IN: FCCPC to take action on rising price of commodities
“So we are here to come and find out from three levels of stakeholders, the first being the market executives, the second being the sellers. And the third, stakeholders are consumers.
“This is a big market for direct food supply from the farm to the market. And so we wanted to see the value chain and how they are interacting with the Food prices and cost,” she stated.
On the part of traders, Faith Audu stated that different factors like multiple taxation, high cost of transportation and insecurity as contributing to the rise in the cost of food products.
She said these factors have kept the prices of most commodities rising with little or no alternative while the consumer bears the burden.