Hawkers of sachet water in Edo State, popularly known as ‘pure water’. have taken to the streets in protest over the increase in the price of a bag of sachet water from N120 to N180. Protesting in the streets of Benin, the hawkers carrying empty containers marched through streets and roads to make their grievances known.
Complaining, Mrs. Vivian Osula, a pure water seller for 20 years complained that the new price would be disadvantageous as they cannot be able to make any profit. She said the extra N60 came to them as a shock and demands that the government intervene. She wondered why the price would just be raised without considering the interest of stakeholders in the business.
She also said her customers had refused to buy a sachet of water for N20 due to the increase.
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“Those we buy from told us this morning (Thursday) that a bag of sachet water is now N180. We get only N20 as profit per bag and that is what I use to feed my children.
“We sell at Oba Market and people have refused to buy. I am begging the government to intervene. If people do not buy, it will affect me; my children will have no money to eat because it is our source of living,”the 35-year-old mother said.
She said,
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“We used to buy a bag for N100 and we pay for fees. At Oba Market, we pay N40. If we go to Lagos Street, we pay N40. Last week, a bag was increased to N120.
“But surprisingly, when we got to the market yesterday (Wednesday), we were told that it had been increased to N180. They did not explain why, so we said that we would not accept it because we pay levies and feed our children from our profit.”, Mrs. Osas Osabhoyan another pure-water seller said.
It was reports that the Association of Table Water Producers has disassociated itself from the new price increase as it said it knows nothing about it.
The Edo State Chairman, Mr. Henry Eiremiokhae, said,
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“I am not aware of that. The official price is N120; we just added N20 to the N100 that we used to sell it to meet up with the high cost of production. We run our facilities on generators.
“Market forces may be responsible for the increase because a number of factories are not working due to their inability to source for raw materials.”