Why prices of food items have continued to rise – FG

The Federal Government on Thursday said the increase in food prices was due to extortion of food transporters by

men of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, Nigeria Customs Service and other paramilitary agencies.

Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh said this when he appeared before

the National Assembly to defend the 2017 budget of the ministry.

He said farmers have complained that officers of these forces mount roadblocks and extort them when transporting their produce.

He said farmers have also kicked against the move by the Federal Government to effect reduction in the prices of food items.

He said one of the factors responsible for inceease in prices of food items “is the daily unbearable extortions by men of the Nigeria Police, their counterpart in the Army and Customs Service of truck drivers conveying farm produce from the hinterlands to urban centres under the guise of carrying out security checks.”

He added, “These truck drivers, based on raw lamentations made to the ministry in recent time, alleged that at every checkpoint they are always forced to part with reasonable amount

of money by any group of the security agencies, which they said, made farmers to have no option than to factor cost of extortion into prices of food items.”

He said the ministry has written the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and heads of other security agencies to stop their men from extortion.

 

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