From Thursday, bakers under the platform of the Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria have announced plans to halt production of their products.
This was in a statement signed by the President of the association, Emmanuel Onuorah in which he said operating a bakery in Nigeria has become almost impossible as the incessant increases in the prices of baking materials and diesel have affected the industry negatively.
Onuorah said bakeries were running in losses and the situation was no longer sustainable.
According to him, bread is a staple food and one of the cheapest ‘grab and go’ food that is available for both the poor and the rich.
“It, therefore, behoves the Federal Government to be mindful of this and ensure the survival and sustainability of the industry,” he said.
The statement read in part, “In a move to ensure the survival of the premium bread-making industry in Nigeria, we have decided to embark on a withdrawal of services beginning from Thursday 21st of July, 2022 for four days in the first instance and where there is no intervention from the government, we shall escalate the duration of the withdrawal.”
“The reasons for the withdrawal of services included an incessant increase in the price of baking materials, Federal Government’s 15 per cent wheat development levy on wheat import, NAFDAC’s N154,000 penalty charged for late renewal of certificates, the inability of its members to access grants and soft loans being given by the Central Bank of Nigeria to Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises and multi-agencies regulation of the bread-making industry.”
The statement further read, “Our efforts to ensure the survival of the industry led to a series of meetings with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Abuja with our sister association in the bread-making industry in 2021. Our best attempts through the suggestions we put forward for the survival of the bread-making industry have not yielded the desired result.
“Therefore, the withdrawal of service is the only way we believe we can use to get to Federal Government and Nigerians and let them know our plight and how difficult it has been with the bread-making industry in Nigeria.”
Last month, the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria via a communique issued, and signed by the association’s executives, led by Mansur Umar, had declared that it would embark on two-week strike action in response to skyrocketing prices of baking materials.
