Bakers halt bread production in Nigeria

Following a threat to halt production by the Nigerian breadmakers over cost of production of bread in the country, the body has begun its national action slated to commence on thursday.

In Enugu and most parts of the South East, there are still bread in the shops for sale but the cost has recently become a serious cause for concern among many people, especially those whom bread constitute major component of their daily meals.

Nigerian bakers under the aegis of the Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria have announced plans to halt production of their products, effective today, Thursday.

According to a statement signed by the President of the association, Emmanuel Onuorah, operating a bakery in Nigeria has become almost impossible as the incessant increases in the prices of baking materials and diesel have affected the industry negatively.

Onuorah stated that bakeries were running in losses and the situation was no longer sustainable.

He disclosed that, bread is a staple food and one of the cheapest ‘grab and go’ food that is available for both the poor and the rich.

“It, therefore, behoves the Federal Government to be mindful of this and ensure the survival and sustainability of the industry,” he said.

“In a move to ensure the survival of the Premium bread-making industry in Nigeria, we have decided to embark on a withdrawal of services beginning from Thursday 21st of July, 2022 for four days in the first instance and where there is no intervention from the government, we shall escalate the duration.

“The reasons for the Withdrawal of services included an incessant increase in the price of baking materials, Federal Government’s 15 per cent wheat development levy on wheat import, NAFDAC’s N154,000 penalty charged for late renewal of certificates, the inability of its members to access grants and soft loans being given by the Central Bank of Nigeria to Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises and multi-agencies regulation of the bread-making industry.”

The statement further noted that “Our efforts to ensure the survival of the industry led to a series of meetings with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Abuja with our sister association in the bread-making industry in 2021. Our best attempts through the suggestions we put forward for the survival of the bread-making industry have not yielded the desired result.

“Therefore, the withdrawal of service is the only way we believe we can use to get to Federal Government and Nigerians and let them know our plight and how difficult it has been with the bread-making industry in Nigeria.”

In the same vein, the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria via a communique issued, and signed by the association’s executives, led by Mansur Umar, had declared that it would embark on two-week strike action in response to skyrocketing prices of baking materials.

Basil Edozie, a bread consumer who spoke with with our reporter on the possible impact of the strike said while the need to adjust to other possibilities would be inevitable, the absence of bread on the shelves would impact negatively on personal finance.

He said, “Most people eat bread. There’s almost no alternative to bread. So obviously it will require a big adjustment to survive without it.”

It promises to be a very hard experience when we consider the very important role bread in our nourishment and social economy, especially in this time spiralling inflation in the country.

The Executive Secretary, Flour Mill association of Nigeria, Yunus Olalekan, did not respond to calls as of the time of filing this report.

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