Grain Market: Acting secretary calls for control over the price of food items in Potiskum

Grain Market: Acting secretary calls for control over the price of food items in Potiskum

By: Yahaya Wakili

The Acting Secretary of the Potiskum Grains Market in Yobe State, Alhaji Umar Adamu Mamudo, has called on the government to take drastic measures to control food prices in order to prevent what happened in the previous years, as indications show that food prices may skyrocket in the days ahead. 

Mamudo said that the government should take the measure to buy the product and keep it in its reserve. When the price of food security is high in the market, they can control the price by bringing out what they have in their reserve to subsidy it in the market.

Alhaji Umaru Adamu Mamudo disclosed this to newsmen in his office. He said that if the government holds its hands to allow everybody to come into the market and buy the product and go, at the end the product will be in the hands of the masses, and still the masses will start crying for help from the government.

According to him, “if care is not taken, we don’t want what happened this year or last year; therefore, the government should take necessary action to avoid the future occurrence of such hardship in the country” he said.

He revealed that, on the issue of price control, I don’t think it will work in Nigeria except when the economic system is changed, because the economic system we are practicing cannot give room for price control measures in the country.

“Because I think something like communism or a sociolist system that you can apply can control the price, but partially or capitalist, then there is no way to control the price because most of the business transactions are operated by private individuals, not by the government. Had the transaction or the business activities been carried out by the government, 50% of them were carried out by the government, and the government could control the price,” Mamudo added.

“If the government wants to help the farmers, they can contact different farmer associations so that the equipment can reach the genuine farmers, but now when the government proposes to empower a group of certain individuals with farming equipment, it cannot go deep into the respected associations that are real farmers, and most of the equipment there is not given to genuine farmers; it is giving to politicians, and the politicians are selling it.”

Alhaji Umaru Adamu Mamudo has called on the Yobe state government to come to their aid to look at our environment where we are operating. We are in need of so many things, and we are among the first-class markets for generating revenue for the government in Yobe State.

“We are in need of drainage and roads. Last year, we wrote to the government to provide us with even sand in the market for easy transportation, and we are also calling on the government to provide us with solar lights in the market for security purposes.

Grain Market: Acting secretary calls for control over the price of food items in Potiskum