Some residents of Lagos State have claimed that the food items being sold at the discounted market recently launched by the state government are actually expensive in comparison to the actual market prices.
Recall that Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had earlier stated that the “Ounje Eko” food markets would sell food items at discounted prices in the five divisions of the state from Sunday, March 17.
Sanwo-Olu had stated that the food markets would operate exclusively on Sundays from 11am to 4pm across 57 locations in the state.
The governor, who disclosed this during a live media chat on February 22, said the “Sunday Markets” initiative was aimed at cushioning the effect of the high cost of living in the country.
In a statement, the state Commissioner, Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, had announced the commencement of the initiative, noting that the markets would offer Lagosians a 25 per cent discount on staple food items like rice, beans, garri, bread, eggs, tomatoes, and pepper.
However, in videos uploaded on Tiktok by a civic group, Societal Concern, residents said the prices of foods like rice and beans were not reduced by 25% as the state government promised.
“The foods are very expensive, they said they wanted to reduce the prices by 25% in price but they did not do that,” one of the residents said in the video.
The resident added, “At outside, we do buy a ‘Derika’ of rice (850 gram) for N1,500. But it is being sold for N1,200 here. Derika of Honey Beans outside for N1,000 but they are selling 5kg of beans here for N6000. That is very much of it. They called themselves a government, this is much of them, let them reduce everything.
“They said they came here with enough food for us but at the end of the day, it is not enough and the price is too much. Let him (the governor) minimise everything. They did not remove any 25% from the price. Only the eggs are cheaper here. Only the eggs are being sold for N2000 plus. Help us to tell Governor Sanwo-Olu to reduce the 25%(as he promised). The price of the food we met here is not what we are expecting.”
A resident who also blamed herself for patronising the discounted market said, “If we go to the market, the prices at the market are cheaper than what we are seeing here. I blamed myself for coming here. If I had known this is what they would sell, I would have gone to the market. They sold beans for N6,200 which its equivalent in the market is around N5000.”
An elderly woman who also confirmed the high price of the food products at the discounted market stated that the high price was what prevented her from purchasing the remainder of the food she intended.
She said, “I will not lie to you, these foods are expensive. The price they pegged for the 5 kg of garri is too much here. I bought only rice but I wanted to buy egg, bread but the prices are too high.”
“What I see is that they stress people, the weather is so hot. Some things here are very expensive and when it is my turn to buy, some stuff is finished already. And they are too slow in collecting money. Since morning, I have not got anything,” another resident said.