Food Subsidy: Lagos Commissioner Blows Hot As Sellers Are Accused Of Taking Advantage Of Residents

The Commissioner for Agriculture in Lagos State, Abisola Olusanya, has expressed dismay over alleged manipulation by foodstuffs sellers at the Fresh Food Hub in the Alakara Idi-Oro area of the state.

The sellers are being accused of taking advantage of buyers despite government support to make food cheaper.

Recall that the state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had a week ago announced a 25 percent subsidy on food items in select locations, starting with Fresh Food Hub Idi-Oro.

Under the initiative, anyone who purchases food items between N1,000 and N25,000 and pays with MoMo, an online trading platform, gets 25 per cent discount.

But addressing stakeholders in a video shared by an X user identified as Ayekooto, Olusanya lamented that more than 70 per cent of the sellers are refusing to use the online trading platform, which ensures that buys get 25 per cent discount automatically.

She said: “We did not put officials in the market to give people back 25 per cent after purchasing items. This was to avoid being accused of embezzlement. We pay MoMo, an innovative online trading platform and commission-free investment app, upfront, so that if anybody comes here to use the MoMo platform to pay, they get the 25 per cent automatically. But more than 70 per cent of you are refusing to use it, and it’s not fair

“If you don’t like it, leave. It is not by force to sell here if you don’t want to use the platform.”

“We are not charging you a penny. But your level of commitment is low because you are getting it free.”

The commissioner regretted that the alleged actions of the sellers were frustrating the efforts of the state government.

“If we are to charge you to sell here, you will not do what you are doing. You want to destroy our effort. It is painful that you want change in Nigeria but you don’t want to be part of it. You want to take advantage of fellow Nigerians and yet you say the government is the problem,” she said.

Olusanya called on the sellers to allow the 25 per cent discount work or leave.

“We gave some market women N50,000 each on Saturday, February 25, but they sold it to people who will sell at a higher price. We are the architects of our own problem, and you are the same people that will say politicians are bad. Be the change you want to see, and let the 25 per cent discount work or leave, and go to your market. We spent so much on this.

“In the last four weeks, I checked the MoMo statistics and I discovered that only less than N500,000 has been redeemed. A lot of people have been coming here, unable to access the service. It’s unfair that many are choosing to circumvent and take advantage.”