The Federal Government says that the rising cost of food items and other essential commodities have become worrisome on their part, even as the states of Niger and Kano protested the rising inflation of items across the land.
Mr. Olawale Edun, who is the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, made this known in a bilateral meeting with a visiting German delegation, led by the country’s Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Ms Svenja Shulze in Abuja on Monday.
Food speculators have been blamed for the protests by the State Governments, even as some youths and women condemned what they termed as the deliberate purchase of food items for hoarding and exporting outside the country.
In the course of the protest, police had resorted to dispersing protesters with what they termed as “minimum force” as the Minna-Bida road was blocked and vehicular movements distorted by the protesters.
Wale Edun maintained that there is a huge drive in increasing agricultural production, even as the high rate of commodities was triggered on demand and supply forces.
Relatedly, Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf, on Monday, lamented that many people in his state were living in misery, amid starvation and acute hunger. Yusuf said inflation had terribly outpaced incomes, resulting in deaths, as several residents could not cope with the rising cost of living.
