It is a tale of woes as an acute scarcity of one of Nigerias’ most popular staple foods, bread, has hit Kaduna, Katsina and Kano States.
Checks by correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in the three states revealed that the most-favoured staple is now as scarce as petrol or the highly-prized precious metal, gold.
It was observed that the staple has become very hard to come by, just as its price has hit the roof.
Many residents said they can no longer afford bread and have turned to less expensive alternatives like noodles, millet porridge and bean cake, as well as bread and beans, among others.
Checks by NAN correspondents showed that the price of the commodity has increased by between 20 to 40 per cent.
Many shop owners and consumers lamented the development, appealing for urgent action to redress the ugly trend.
“It is not that we are on strike, we have stopped production since 1st July, 2024. This unfortunate development was necessitated by the scarcity of wheat flour and its high cost, as well as sugar, oil and other additives.
“For instance, in June, we were buying a 50kg bag of flour for between N53,000 and N55,000, but it has now regrettably skyrocketed to between N67,000 and N70,000. How can we produce bread and also break even under this precarious situation?” a baker in Kaduna told NAN anonymously.
Some bread sellers and consumers in Kaduna also decried the scarcity of bread in the metropolis, saying that it has affected their businesses and daily lives.
Haidar Basiru, a tea and bread seller, said he usually buys 100 loaves of bread but due to the ongoing paucity, he was able to get only 30 loaves.
“The bakeries are saying they are on strike due to a hike in prices of flour and sugar. This development has seriously affected our businesses as we usually operate in the mornings and evenings. But, from the look of things, we may not come out in the evening due to bread shortage.
“In fact, most of my colleagues operating around this axis in Kasuwan barci have not opened today,” he said.
Similarly, Mrs Kafayat Sadiq, a provisions seller, stated that she couldn’t get bread to stock her shop since Tuesday, as her supplier had complained of the high cost of flour.
Abdullahi Muhammad, a bread consumer said, “I went to the shop in the morning to buy bread, which would be eaten as breakfast in my house but unfortunately, I couldn’t get it. I had to buy spaghetti for the children to eat and go to school since there is no bread. I hope the issue would be alleviated soon.”
A resident of Funtua, Funtua Local Government Area of Katsina State, Aliyu Idris, told NAN that the price of bread has also gone up in the state.
He said, “For instance, a loaf of bread that was sold for N200 now goes for N400. This has affected all the sizes of the bread.”
Idris also stated that tea sellers and shop owners were now finding it very hard to get the commodity for sale to their customers.
In Kano State, a resident, Haruna Salisu, corroborated the unfortunate scenarios in Kaduna and Katsina, saying, “a loaf of bread formerly sold for N600 now goes for N800. Also, a loaf of sliced bread that was sold for N1200 is now N1600.”
NAN
