Bakers under the aegis of the Premium Bread-Makers Association of Nigeria have stated that a difficult business environment caused by rising energy costs and rising forex rates has forced some of its members across the country to close their doors.
In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, PBAN President Emmanuel Onuorah described the current situation as concerning and potentially crippling for bread-making business operators.
He expressed his dissatisfaction with the government’s lackluster approach to addressing the harsh operating environment that businesses face.
“Companies are closing their doors as a result of the increase in the price of diesel,” he said. This week, some of my members closed down (their business premises).
Many other businesses are also going out of business.
“As we speak, sachet water business operators are on strike.” They’ll almost certainly raise the price of sachet water to N25 or N30. We don’t even know where this thing is going. Larger corporations are going out of business due to high operating costs. Businesses are failing.”
Wheat suppliers, according to Onuorah, have indicated a possible scarcity of the product within the next two weeks, implying that bread prices may rise significantly.
Hospitals must now ration diesel. The key is energy. We understand that there will be a shortage of wheat in two weeks, and millers will raise their prices to N30,000 or N40,000,” he added.
Onuorah lamented the naira’s continued depreciation in the face of recent dollar scarcity in the parallel market.
