Food transporters say food prices ‘ll remain high due to bad roads

Food transporters say food prices ‘ll remain high due to bad roads

…. appeal to government to end multiple taxation

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA- FOOD transporters under the auspices of Amalgamated Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers Association of Nigeria, AFCDAN, yesterday, said food prices will remain high due to bad roads across the country.

This was stated by the National President, AFCDAN, Alhaji Muhammed Tahir, who said the bad roads across the country have compounded their problems, as they have lost lives and goods amounting to N250 million every week, which over 100 trucks and trailers involve in accidents and sometime breakdown.

He said: “We the Amalgamated Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers Association of Nigeria, AFCDAN, are frustrated due to the deplorable state of federal roads across the country, which has caused us delay in transporting food items to the market, and food prices will remain high in the market.

“The Jebba Bridge has been damaged due to lack of maintenance and rehabilitation. We cannot ply the road from the north to Lagos, and that has forced us to ply Abuja, Lokoja road to Lagos, which is also in a deplorable condition. It has further made us to record high losses, including lives.

“We are feeding the nation because we move farm produce to every part of the country. Our vehicles are always involved in accidents due to these bad roads, which slows our movement, including armed robbery attacks, and illegal collection of revenue from our members with fake receipts.

“We make a loss of N250 million due to bad roads, which over 100 trucks and trailers are involved in a week, like on the Jebba highway, which is now a death trap to us.

“The road from Niger to Oyo is impassable. We plead with the Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, to urgently tackle these roads for us and the benefit of the economy."

He also lamented multiple taxation in many states in North Central, South-East and South-South regions of the country, and called on the government to urgently look into the matter for them to continue transportation of foodstuff to over 180 million.

He said, “We are faced with the monster called multiple taxation on federal highway and is illegal to our constitution. We have written to the Minister of Agriculture, Inspector General of Police, and also copied IGP-Monitoring Unit, they are on operation now from Benue to Kogi and the entire South-East and South-south States.

“In the North, there is no multiple taxation now, and like from Maiduguri to Lagos State, Sokoto to Lagos. Our problem is from Benue, Kogi down to South-south and South-east States.

“In the night we encounter more than 30 boys who carry planks with protruding nails to stop our trailers, trucks and buses in the name of collecting revenue, and that has led to fatal accidents involving loss of lives and goods of our members.

“I buy one cow for N150, 000 and a full trailer carries 35 cows, and we used to hire the trailer as far as Yobe State to Port Harcourt costs us N400, 000 for convey the cows there, from Kano to Lagos is N380, 000, and we spend over N250, 000 on multiple taxation on the highway before we reach Port Harcourt or Bayelsa.

“We are ready to pay revenue at the local and state government levels from loading and offloading points. We are against multiple taxation in transporting food to feed fellow Nigerians.

“This issue of multiple taxation has astronomically increased food prices in this country as we speak because there is no free movement on the highways with food.”