This is not the best of times for Nigerians, particularly the ordinary man on the street- the low class citizens as some people would prefer to call them.
This is because bread, which used to be the easiest and cheapest available food for the poor, is no longer within their reach.
Prices of food items have continued to be on an upward spiral for some time now, with its attendant negative effects on the masses.
Many are dying of hunger, while so many others are suffering from one kind of ailment or the other, due to malnutrition. The level of inflation is frightening and it has virtually affected the price of everything, including food items.
The country’s currency, the Naira, keeps plummeting in the international market, thereby worsening the economic woes of many Nigerian households.
Just a few days ago, protests broke out in Niger and Kano States over high cost of living.
Unfortunately, the government has been unable to find a solution to the situation, particularly to the consistent rise in the price of wheat flour, the raw material for bread. The situation has become a big source of worry to both bread bakers and consumers.
The development has become so unbearable that only on Friday, February 2, local bread bakers in Kano State, Northwest Nigeria, took to the street to protest the high cost of flour, saying that the price hike was threatening to force them out of business
The bakers lamented that they used to buy a bag of flour for N16,000, but now, the same bag is sold for N43,000 and they cannot afford it.
At the forefront of the protest was the chairperson of the association, Fatima Awwal, who called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, look into the incessant increment in price of the commodity.
She further noted that many of them would definitely be forced out of business if the government failed to act and fast too.
She said: “We are out here on the streets protesting to let the leaders know the economic hardship that we are facing at the moment.