It is a tale of woes as an acute scarcity of one of Nigerians’ most popular staple foods, bread, has hit Kaduna, Katsina and Kano.
A report by the News Agency of Nigeria revealed that the most-favored staple is now as scarce as petrol. While the commodity is hard to come by, its prices have hit the roof.
It was also observed that whereas the commodity was very hard to come by, its prices have hit the roof. Whereas, the commodity prices have also increased by 20 to 40 per cent.
Many of the residents could no longer afford their darling food and, as such, had turned to other not-too-cheap alternatives like noodles, millet porridge, bean cake, and bread and beans, among others.
Many shop owners and consumers have vehemently lamented the obnoxious development, appealing for urgent action to redress the ugly trend.
One of the bakers in Kaduna said, “It is not that we are on strike, but we have had to stop production since 1st July 2024. This unfortunate development was necessitated by the scarcity of wheat flour and its high cost, as well as sugar, oil and other additives.
“For instance, in June, we were buying a 50kg bag of flour for between N53,000 to N55,000, which has regrettably skyrocketed to between N67,000 to N70,000.”
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Haidar Basiru, a tea and bread seller, said he usually bought 100 loaves of bread, but due to the ongoing lack, he could get only 30 loaves, which had already been finished.“The bakeries are saying they are on strike due to a hike in flour and sugar. This development has seriously affected our businesses as we usually operate in the mornings and evenings.
Kafayat Sadiq, a provisions seller, stated that she could not get bread to stock in her shop since Tuesday, saying that her supplier complained about the high cost of flour.
Abdullahi Muhammad, a consumer, said, “I went to the shop in the morning to buy bread, which would be eaten as breakfast in my house, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get it.
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