Benue plans marketing board to curb price hike

Following the hike in prices of food and non-food items in Benue State, the state government is seeking ideas to establish a marketing board to regulate the prices of goods in the state.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Benue Investment and Property Company, Dr Raymond Asemakaha disclosed this while delivering his keynote address at a one-day capacity building/training workshop on Economic reporting on Friday.

The event was organised by the correspondents’ chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Benue State Council and was sponsored by BIPC.

Asemakaha who said that the organisation had conducted a survey lamented that the prices of food and non-food items in the state capital were higher than what is obtainable in neighbouring states such as Nasarawa and Abuja, hinted that the idea of introducing a marketing board will soon be tabled before the state assembly.

He said, “What we have discovered in the market survey we have done is that everything in Makurdi is very expensive, even food items. For instance, when we started to build our factory, do you know that we always send money to Abuja to buy building materials, almost everything we buy in Abuja because we discovered that the corruption in Makurdi markets was too high?

“We are even looking at a way of suggesting a Marketing Board which we may discuss with the state assembly to have a board controlling price. Everything in Makurdi is very expensive, even food items.

“Do you know that people go to nearby Laafia (Nasarawa State capital) to buy things? We need to do everything possible to salvage the situation. Even yam that is supposed to be less expensive is costly here in Makurdi. Last week, we wanted to buy something we had to go to Nasarawa to buy it.

The MD also accused market men and women within the capital city of making too much profit on their wares.

The BIPC boss further decried the humiliating ways farmers in the villages are being treated by traders from the northern and eastern parts of the country.

“There is another survey we did about agricultural produce, we discovered that those people from the North and East when they come to buy things, they will not go to the market in the morning rather they will be hibernating somewhere and when it’s 5 pm to 6 pm when the market women are worn out and planning to pack their goods and go home it’s then they will now stroll into the market with their money and buy their goods at ridiculous prices”, he said.