High cost of food items: Osinbajo engages market leaders

ACTING President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday, undertook a surprise visit to Garki market in Abuja.

He was there to interact with the traders and other Nigerians to have a first hand knowledge of their feelings.

The visit was planned as part of his activities to mark the second year anniversary of the present administration.

It was the first time such a visit to a market would be taking place.

Accompanied by Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar and other senior presidential aides, he arrived at the market at about 3:10 p.m and was greeted warmly by the enthusiastic crowd.

He spent 40 minutes interacting with traders many of who complained about the high cost of items in the market.

The traders were particularly unhappy about the prohibitive cost of renting shops and wanted government’s intervention to bring it down.

Speaking to the acting President,  Alhaji Nasiru Maiyaki Kurfi, who sells rice in the market, complained about lack of space to display wares as the management of the market had been unable to follow through on its promise to build more stalls.

Osinbajo, however, promised to engage with the market management to ameliorate the discomfort of the traders.

He encouraged the traders to bring down the cost of their items as he noted that, “the more we farm the cost of products will come down.”

Explaining the rationale for the visit to State House correspondents, Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, said the visit to the market was part of activities to mark the second anniversary of the administration.

He added: “He (Osinbajo) wanted to feel the pulse of Nigerians and hear directly from the people and have one on one with them and assure them that the administration was committed to improving  the economy and ensure life gets better for them.”