By Ishola Adeleke, YeyeNews.com, October 28, 2021
The Minister of Agriculture has blamed the continuous rise in the price of food items in the market on the excessive consumption by Nigerians and advised that everyone should significantly cut down on their consumption if they want to reverse the trend. The Minister made the statement during a retreat organized for senior officials in the ministry.
“The food inflation is not the fault of our government. It is an artificial event caused by excessive consumption of Nigerians. Every household must reduce the quantity of food they eat daily. That will reduce demand and cause prices to stabilize”, the Minister said.
“Go to the markets and see the level of purchase of food by Nigerians. People are now getting excessively fat. But look at Mr. President. With all the resources at his disposal, he is still looking slim and fit because he doesn’t eat too much. Let us emulate him to help ourselves and help the nation”.
A source close to the presidency told YeyeNews.com that the minister once proposed to the president to make a law regulating the amount of food Nigerians can purchase. “His argument was that Nigerians are not disciplined. He thus advised the president to control every aspect of the life of citizens in the overall interest of the nation. He said if the president does not act, the excessive demands of Nigerians will continue to drive inflation higher and the same Nigerians will turn around to blame the president”, the source said.
But contrary to the claim of the minister traders in the market continue to lament poor patronage by Nigerians. “Market has been down. People cannot afford to buy our goods because of lack of money and increase in prices”, a rice trader at Bodija market in Ibadan lamented to YeyeNews.com.
A businessman in Lagos also disagreed with the minister’s assertion that the inflation is caused by excessive demand of Nigerians. “This government will blame everyone and everything for their failures except themselves. Where did Nigerians get money for the so called excessive consumption? Even as a businessman my purchasing power has progressively declined since Buhari came to power. I just wonder how civil servants survive with their meagre salaries. But rather than blame their wrong policies for the economic disaster that we have found ourselves they are putting the blame on the already impoverished people”.
