Kwara traders lament skyrocketing price of commodities

By Mike Adeyemi
Traders at the popular Oja-Oba market in Ilorin, Kwara State have lamented the incessant hike in the prices of goods at the market.
They attributed the development to exploitation by to middlemen.
Speaking to Pilot Business on Saturday, the Iyaloja of Oja-Oba market, Alhaja Mariam Elesin said “the indiscriminate price fixing of commodities at various markets in the state calls for concerns as this has had effects on traders.
She urged the state government to wade in and stop the exploitative tendencies of middlemen and other stakeholders.
“We want to appeal to the government to tackle the issue of exploitative behaviour by middlemen and other actors, which is one of the factors responsible for the skyrocketing prices of commodities.
Elesin added that a price control system by the government would help to curtail excesses of marketers who arbitrarily fix prices without recourse to market forces.
She, however, said that Oja-Oba market as one of the front line markets in the state that enforced and implemented measures toward containment of the spread of COVID-19.
On the Federal Government’s trademoni, she decried the implementation of the programne, which according to her went into wrong hands.
“We want to appeal to the Kwara State Government to make available soft loans for traders in the state. This will help to boost our trade”, she added.
In the same vein, the Babaloja of Oja-Oba, Mallam Ibrahim Elewa charged the Kwara State Government to provide the market with street light, parking space and toilets.
He said traders at the market paid their taxes promptly and asked the state government to complement their patriotic gesture by providing needed amenities to Oja-Oba market.