June 24, (THEWILL)- Gurasa Bakers Association of Kano State has threatened to embark on an indefinite strike if flour manufacturers fail to reverse the price of the commodity.
This comes barely one week after they called for a three-day warning strike in the state.
Checks have revealed that the flour companies have increased the commodity’s price by 56 percent within one year, which resulted in an uproar among the country’s bakers.
The association, through its Chairperson, Fatima Auwalu, on Wednesday said nothing had changed since they called off the warning strike, prompting them to embark on an indefinite industrial action until authorities and stakeholders would do the needful.
According to Mrs. Auwalu, all bread in bakers in the state were counting losses due to the recurring increase in the price of flour, which is the major ingredient for making one of the local staple foods.
The Chairperson pointed out that not long ago, the price of flour was N9,500, but now it was priced at N16,200, calling on the companies to reverse the price to N9,000 or shut down the business.
She said, beside the increase in the price of flour, the quality of the product had reduced, saying, “This has negatively impacted on our business.
“Since calling off the warning strike, we thought the price would reduce, but to our dismay, the price is rather going up day by day.
“The three-day strike had inflicted hardship on our customers and us, but we could not do anything to resolve this problem but to take industrial action to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to bring a lasting solution to the problem.*
Mrs. Auwalu disclosed that the association had decided to call off the strike because of the intervention of the Kano State Commissioner of Police and other agencies.
She added: “We normally use IRS flour, BUA, Golden Confectionery and Super Flour. These are the only three brands that we use always. But we’re in a difficult situation because our business has become the shadow of its former self due to the hike in the price of flour.
“Let me use this opportunity to call on Abdussamad Isyaku Rabiu and other stakeholders to reverse the price of flour quickly, or we shut our business down. If we shut it down, it will not affect us alone; it will affect many people in this state and the North as a whole.”
Another baker, Usaina Adamu, said they had been forced to embark on the indefinite strike because their warning action did not yield desired results.
According to her, the bakers had decided to go on the strike to bring the stakeholders’ attention to control the price of the flour, noting that their action did not change the situation.
Adamu recalled: “We called on the stakeholders to do the needful in a bid to control the situation, but it is rather deteriorating.
” We, therefore, call on Abdussamad, IRS and other companies too as a matter of urgency reverse the price of flour to N9,000 or we go on indefinite strike. They should know that thousands have relied on this business. If we shut it down, a lot will suffer..
“This is the product that we bought N12,000 per bag recently, and it increased to N13,000, N14,000 up to over N16,000. This is sad. Our business is being negatively affected. Something
has to be done.”
On his part, Umar Badamasi, who is the Vice Chairman of Gurasa Sellers Association, expressed surprise on how the price of flour is rising day in day out.
“We call on stakeholders, the manufacturers such as BUA, IRS, Super and other manufacturers to investigate this matter and provide solutions. They should also warn those dealers who we suspect are increasing the price they get the commodity at cheaper rate from the manufacturers. If this is not done, we have no choice than to shut down the business,” he threatened.
Another major dealer of the product in the state, Alhaji Muhammadu Danadakawa, said the bakers should go for the strike to draw the attention of the state and Federal Government into the matter.
He said the bakers should decide on what would call the government’s attention to intervene in a bid to reverse the price.
“Let them go on strike so that the state and the Federal Government will know about their action and intervene. We see it when they increase the price. We should buy it like that if we want to buy it.
But, look for the companies managers here in Kano because I’m not a Manager, I’m just a Dealer,” he said.
