The price of onions has gone up sharply in major markets across Enugu, in the Southeast of Nigeria. A market survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday revealed that the price of the commodity had increased when compared to what was obtained a few months back. Residents were seriously lamenting a scarcity of the commodity and its sudden hike in price.
The price of a bag of onions now sells for between N28,000 and N32,000 as against N12, 000 and N14, 500. An onions seller at the Akwata Market attributed the increase in price of onion to its planting season.
“The scarcity of onions was not only experienced in Enugu but also where the commodity is largely produced. Places like Sokoto, Kano and Jos, where we buy them from, are experiencing the scarcity too, though not as much as we in the southern part of the country,” she said.
She said some months back, onion was sold for between N11, 500 and N14,500, irrespective of the states they were bought from.
Samson Ukoha, an onion seller at Mayor Market, said that onions sellers were made to pay for some charges aside the actual price of the commodity, whenever they bought from onions wholesalers. Ukoha said that those charges included land fees, where the commodity was bought, the amount collected by the truck pushers and the transportation fare.
He urged government to build storage facilities for traders so that perishable items such as onions could be preserved for its constant availability to consumers all the year round.
[ Nn401,16 = €1,00 ]
Source: pmnewsnigeria.com
