Prices of perishables have crashed in Guri Main Market, in Jigawa following the lockdown by Federal Government over COVID-19.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a bag of onions now goes for N3,500 instead of the usual N8,000, while a bag of dry pepper that was sold for N9,500, has dropped to N7,000.
Also, a bag of chilli pepper sold at N5,000, now cost N3,000, while a bag of dried tomatoes has dropped to N6,000 from the old price of N8,000.
A bag of soybeans now goes for N8,000 as against the previous price of N13,200.
The Chairman, Perishable Sellers Association in the market, Alhaji Musa Zugo, said that the crash was due to the lockdown which had prevented customers from going to the market.
“Majority of our customers from Lagos, Ogun, Abuja and Port Harcourt are no longer coming because of the lockdown in the country.
“Very few customers come to the market and you know, if demand drops, the price also drops,” he said.
Zugo, however, appealed to the federal government to assist in cushioning the effect of the lockdown on the poor and the vulnerable in the country.
“The federal government needs to come up with a strategy to assist the people at the lower cadre of the society who rely on daily earnings to survive.
“If you keep this category of people at home with nothing to fall back on, they will die of hunger,” he said.
