<p>The day was
Monday. Bisi Adams, mother of four, had just prepared her children for the new
school week. While the young ones were excited about seeing their friends after
the weekend, their mother on the other hand was consumed by the thoughts
running through her mind. There was no breakfast for her kids. No food in the
house. She had planned drink Garri (cassava flakes) and salt once the children
were away, but first, she needed to get home-made meals for her children. After
a while, Bisi and the kids step out to a canteen also known as ‘Buka’ to get
food on credit which has become her usual practice. But on this day, her usual
benefactor owner of the canteen isn’t so welcoming. “Better leave this place
now with those malnourished kids”, the fat Mama Put exclaims. “As if you don’t
know what is happening to Nigeria now.”</p>



<p>Smarting from the insult, Bisi stands with tears streaming down her face. The fat, canteen owner continues to rant: “Rice has become as expensive as gold since they close the border. The price of one bag don go from N12, 000 to N25, 000. We no dey even get am buy. And yet you expect me to sell to you on credit, for this Monday morning? Abeg, no make me angry, biko!”</p>



<p>The closure of
the Nigeria-Benin border on August 19, 2019 has had a rippling effect across
the country, with the magnitude of the consequences most acute in Lagos State. </p>



<p>Retired Col.
Hameed Ali, the Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), had
explained the imperative of the border shutdown as necessary to stem the flow
of arms and ammunition into the country and to curtail smuggling and human
trafficking, and the measure has been lauded by prominent people in the
society. Nonetheless, there is a flip side to the story. The masses are
lamenting the food scarcity rate in the country.</p>



<p>OpenLife spoke
with some Nigerians on the Issue. For Mrs Mary Ukwu, a canteen owner at Ejigbo,
the decision by the federal government favours no other than the elites. She
opined that the Next Level concept of the President Buhari campaign is now
unveiled as the next level of suffering as Nigerians have been made to suffer
the brunt of economic crises since the inception of the government.</p>



<p>She said, “I
used to buy a bag of rice at N18, 000 but now that a bag is N25,000, I buy with
De Rica tin and a tin is now N350. There is literally no gain in this business
anymore, we are just doing it to survive. Before now, some people would buy a
food worth N350 for their children and bring N200 and I would sell it like
that. Now, that is no longer possible. I used to sell chicken before, now, I
don’t go near it. I sell only beef and fish.”</p>



<p>Mrs Ukwu revealed
that a secondary school nearby her place, the students now take Garri and Sugar
during break periods because they couldn’t afford rice. She also stated that
parents now make Amala (meal prepared from Yam flour) and take it to their kids
in school. “Just imagine!” she exclaimed. </p>



<p>She, however,
called on the government to have mercy on the masses and reverse the decision
because the prices of other commodities have increased tremendously. “The
quantity of onions, pepper and other spices that I use in cooking the measured
rice is no longer the same price. I now spend double of that.”</p>



<p>Mrs. Anita John
Atogbo, a dealer in wholesale Italian rice at Gloryland Estate, Ajar, also
lampooned at the government. ; Closing the border is akin to closing her
business. She revealed that prior to the border closure, she buys a bag of rice
at N12,500 or N14,000 as the case may be and she sells both wholesale and
retail but now she buys at N21,500 and sells at a price that doesn’t bring
enough profit for her. The exorbitant price apart, there is scarcity of rice in
the country.</p>



<p>“This issue of
border closure has done more harm than good to the economy because it has
brought about inflation. The demand of rice as a commodity is higher than the
supply and this leads to an increase in the price margin. Now that the border
is closed, where do they want us to get rice?” She said.</p>



<p>Atogbo averred that home-grown rice and the foreign variety are expensive and their scarcity have pushed up the prices of other ingredients especially groundnut oil. She lamented that this has affected her profit margin adversely. “When we buy at a high rate, we add just little money to it so people can buy”, she said. She further stated that the Nigerian rice is very hard and doesn&#8217;t get cooked on time.</p>



<p>Mama Ibeji, a
turkey dealer in Ikorodu market lamented on the slow sales of chicken and
turkey she has been experiencing of recent. She stated that people find it very
difficult to buy frozen foods since the closure of the border. Iya Ibeji
revealed that she used to buy a carton of chicken at N8,500 but now it is
N14,000; also, Turkey which used to be at N11,500 is now sold for N15,000.</p>



<p>“A kilo of
chicken was N900; N1000 before the border closure but it is now N1500. They
want us to eat Nigerian chicken but it is bad, once it gets on the fire, it
becomes annoyingly soft and yet it is still expensive.” She, however, believes
that if the Nigerian chicken is of great quality, people would buy regardless
of the cost.</p>



<p>Madam Ibeji further said that the hike in the cost of chicken and turkey has started affecting the cost of fish gradually. She believes that things might get worse because as people keep demanding for fish, the demand would be greater than the supply and the cost price would increase. “They have added to the cost price of Mackerel fish and some others.” Nnaemeka Ossai, a cosmetics shop owner in Kuto, Abeokuta, also confirmed the pernicious effect of the border shutdown on the sales of cream and antiseptic liquids. The price of body lotions, he affirmed, has increased by N100 to N500 and this discourages some customers who couldn’t link the border closure to the increase in price.</p>



<p>He said, “Some
people come wanting to buy at the old price, but when we tell them that we
cannot sell at such amount, they go back. What can we do when we no longer buy
at the usual price? White Secret used to be N900, now it is N1200. St. Ives
antiseptic liquid, sold at N160 before is now N250.”</p>



<p><strong> ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Consumers lament</strong></p>



<p>Mrs. Damilola
Idera, a mother and civil servant in Ogun State civil service who lives in Eleweran
shared her sad experience with OpenLife. She stated that
a <em>derica</em> of rice which used to be
N220 has skyrocketed to N400. The mother of four who used to buy bags of
foreign rice popularly known as “Aroso” has now settled for smaller
measurements of “Agric” rice due to the unavailability of the rice she prefers.</p>



<p>She opined that
the Nigerian turkey and chicken asides being expensive is also not very good.
“We are being encouraged to consume made-in-Nigeria things but the quality is
something else. Once the chicken gets into water, it stays afloat like bread on
water. A chicken dealer once advised me against boiling or frying the chicken.
She said I should wash, season it and boil alongside the soup or stew, in that
way, it doesn’t get unnecessarily soft and it retains its taste.”</p>



<p>She called on the government to look into the plights of Nigerian masses who bear the brunt of government decisions as everything has become expensive. “Pepper is also expensive. Are they not feeling the heat? They said the border would be closed for 28 days, isn’t it complete yet?” she queried. Meanwhile, Jigawa governor Alhaji Muhammadu has been upbeat about the closure of border, a development he sees as an enabler for Jigawa to emerge leading rice producer in Nigeria.</p>



<p>Recently, he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the state government and the government of Huanan Province of China, under which modern farming implements and tools factories would be established for the production of farming implements and tools locally. Speaking while signing the MoU governor Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar said the company has procured solar power to the state for gravity irrigation which will cover between 70 to 100,000 hectares for rice production.</p>



<p>The governor
 ;explained that: “the relationship would improve agriculture more than
ever before and would be made the state a leading state in rice production not
only in Nigeria but in the whole of Africa.”</p>



<p>According to him,
‘In order to improve farming activities in the State, the government is ready
to bring solar power to Jigawa for gravity irrigation which will cover between
70 to 100,000 hectares.He stated further
that: “we hope the state is going to be one of the leading producers of quality
rice not only in Nigeria but in Africa.”</p>



<p>The governor emphasised that the importation of rice must be discouraged in the country. Alhaji Abubakar also discussed that: “As a leading producer of quality Sesame in Africa, the state will soon start exportation of the product (Sesame) to the tune of 30,000 tons to Huanan Province where oil will be extracted out of it.”</p>



<p>He further explained that his administration is using the research Institute of Huanan Province to improve, upgrade the yield and quality of rice produced in the state so that it will be the leading rice producer in the next five years. Earlier, the governor of Huanan Province, Mr Oufang Huang said they were in a return visit to Jigawa state in order to have a strong partnership on agricultural production as requested earlier by Governor Badaru when he paid a similar visit to the Province in China.</p>

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