By Perpetua Onuegbu
Some workers and artisans have urged the Federal Government to priortise citizens’ food, electricity, transportation and security to make things easier for them.
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja, they said prioritising the availability of these basic necessities would go a long way in addressing the economic challenges facing the ordinary citizens.
Mr Steven Oladotun, a technician, who doubles as an electrician, said reducing the cost of food items would bring smile to the faces of Nigerians.
According to him, it is difficult for many families to eat three square meals.
“Many families find it difficult to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
“The cost of food in our markets is causing most families to deliberately shun either breakfast or lunch,” he said.
Oladotun also lamented the power situation in Nigeria, adding that the electricity deficit was compounding the hardship ordinary Nigerians were facing.
“As a technician, without electricity I cannot do anything at my shop. When I come to my shop daily, I idle away the whole day and go home empty.
“People will bring their jobs for me to do but I am handicapped because there is no electricity to do the work.
“And when I try to get fuel to power my generator, I end up not making money from the job to service my family feeding,” he said.
A construction worker with the China Harbour Company, Mr Simone Duniya, said high cost of transportation across Nigerian cities was causing businesses to increase their prices.
He said that high transport cost was making the salaries of most Nigerians to amount to nothing.
“The food vendors give the excuse for raising their prices to high cost of the food commodities and also the cost of transportation.
“Unfortunately, with my kind of work I do and what I earn, I am forced to eat at least lunch to survive,” he said.
According to a proprietor of restaurant, Mrs Rose Nnamdi, high cost of food items coupled with the hike in transportation caused her to increase cost of a plate of meal in her restaurant.
She said all the restaurants in Abuja metropolis had increased the cost of a plate of their food by over 20 per cent.
Nnamdi told NAN that prevailing conditions forced her to increase her plate of food from N200 to N400 due to high cost of food ingredients and transportation cost.
She said that the power situation in the country had also affected her as she could no longer sell cold drinks and bottled water.
“Most restaurant owners hardly make profit nowadays, especially from drinks because with the heat in Abuja nobody is wants to take hot drinks.
“After deducting expenses and operating without regular electricity, we are left with just a little as profit.”
Nnamdi urged governments at all levels to be proactive in reviving the nation’s economy by focusing attention to some critical challenges at a time. (NAN)
