The foremost seafood dealer in Lagos State, Alhaja Simiat Jimoh, whose popularity is known as Progress, has raised the alarm over the increasing price of fish as a result of the dollar exchange rate.
The businesswoman, while speaking with newsmen on Friday in Lagos State, noted that a crisis is brewing among fish sellers, especially in Lagos, over the high cost of fish.
She urged the state government to prevent an #Endsars scenario following the activities of hoodlums who attacked fish sellers and seized their wares under the guise of protesting.
The businesswoman also pleaded with the Federal Government of Nigeria to urgently find a solution to the continuous increase in the dollar exchange rate
Alhaja Jimoh pointed out that the prices of fish have gone up by about four hundred per cent as a result of the dollar exchange rate.
She said, “The situation is affecting all of us. What we were buying for ten thousand naira has gone up to about forty thousand naira. What we use to buy a container of fish can hardly buy a truck of the same fish.”
“It is not that it is not affecting some of us, but we just have to keep our business going. You cannot just close business because of the high rate of fish.
She also stated, “We complained to the importers, but they complained that the government has removed subsidies on the dollar.”
“They complained that they are now indebted to their suppliers abroad. They blamed everything on the flat exchange rate for dollars.
Alhaja Jimoh continued, “Now some people mobilised themselves and started snatching people’s wares under the guise of protest.”
“We don’t need violent protests to show our grievance. The government should urgently intervene before it becomes another #Endsars.
The businesswoman added, “What some of these people don’t realise is that you cannot close shop with your fish in the cold room. You are bound to incur more expenses, and that will add to the price of the product.”
“Some of us who have big cold rooms pay exorbitant prices for maintaining our cold rooms. We pay as much as N1,00,000 (one million naira) in electricity bills at some of our outlets.
She also added that when the power company interrupts the power supply, we have to rely on generators. The price of diesel has also gone up. We pay as much as $20 million to buy diesel in two months.”
Alhaja Jimoh also stated, “At a time, we thought that it was the foreign importers that were our problems, but our local importers are also encountering the same dollar problem.”
.According to the business woman “There have been a lot of crises among fish sellers in the last few days. Some people are seizing their wares and attacking them. Some of them have been reported to the police.
“The government should urgently intervene and prevent a full-blown crisis that will be similar to the #Endsars violent protest,” the businesswoman stated.
She also urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to “look into the issue of the dollar and do everything possible to reduce the exchange rate.”
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