Some residents of Lagos State, on Sunday, lamented the inadequate number of Point of Sale machines as the state’s discounted food market opened in 27 locations.
The initiative tagged ‘Ounje Eko’ was part of the measures put in place by the state government to address the food crisis in the country.
Nigerians have in recent times been grappling with skyrocketing food prices as a result of mounting inflation, which the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put at over 30 per cent in its latest report.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that buyers, who thronged the discounted food market on Sunday hoping to buy subsidised foodstuffs, were frustrated by the inadequate number of POS machines at the centres.
A NAN correspondent, who visited one of the centres in Ikorodu, reported that there were long queues of prospective buyers, who were unable to make payment due to the inadequate number of machines.
One of the vendors, Mr Debo Adebiyi, told NAN that the arrangement with Lagos State was for each vendor to have a POS machine.
“We have some challenges and what are those challenges, one, the payment system needs to be improved.
“Initially, we were told that each vendor was going to be provided with a POS machine, after payment the buyers will get tags.
“The process is cumbersome for people, when they discover that they have to wait for long, some of them will go back”, he said.
An octogenarian, Mr Daniel Adegboyega, who was able to buy the discounted rice, expressed frustration at the cumbersome arrangement.
He added that though the food prices were affordable.
“The process is hectic and the payment method is very slow.
“We have just one POS and we have a lot of people here, I cannot wait again because of my age, so I have to go home, but the prices are okay”, he said.
Also, expressing disappointment, Mrs Hannah Olanrewaju, said the number of POS machines should be increased, saying the cumbersome process should be looked into, to ensure a flawless process.
“One point of payment cannot serve this part of Ikorodu, because it is a large community”, she said.
Residents of Surulere and its environs on Sunday, arrived as early as 6 am at Lagos Progressive Junior Secondary School, Surulere, to benefit from the state government’s discounted food programme.
Buyers complained that the programme, which was meant to start at 11 am, started one hour late due to the unavailability of vouchers.
Market Leader for Lagos Progressive Junior Secondary School, Surulere, under the Ounje Eko project, Dr Adewunmi Adeyemi, said shoppers were only allowed to purchase items using vouchers.
He said the items on sale included eggs, bread, pepper, onions, tomatoes, rice, garri and beans.
“When you enter, you pay with your card and get your vouchers and you present them to the vendors and they will attend to you immediately.
“An individual is entitled to 5kg of rice, beans and garri, two loaves of bread, one crate of egg, tomatoes, pepper and onions”, he said.
He explained that residents were not allowed to buy more than one item each of all the food on display.
Also, the NAN correspondent who monitored the market in Badagry reports that Nigeria Police and Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency personnel were on the ground to secure the markets.
A resident who came to buy rice and beans at one of the markets, Mrs Fatimo Yusuf, lamented “Honestly, I am not happy with this discount market; there is no difference between what we are buying at our Agbalata market and what they have brought here today.
“This is not a discount market, most of the people selling here are from our market.
“Even when you compare the onions and pepper, they are selling here, it is expensive, compared to what we are buying at our market here.
“The government should price these commodities before they display theirs.
“This is not favourable at all”, she said.
Also, another resident, Mrs Olabimpe Bamidele, said, “Unfortunately, what I saw here is nothing to write home about because two kilos of tomatoes selling for N1,800 is too expensive, the same thing with onions”.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotosho, described the take-off of the discounted food market as satisfactory.
Omotosho said, “It was a good outing, but don’t forget it is the pilot phase. Anything new must have its challenges. So, we experienced challenges such as delays in the food trucks, crowds of people coming with cash when we stated clearly that cash would not be collected and some food items not coming in the right weight. These are errors that will be corrected in the next edition. We expected to have some errors because it is a pilot phase.
“What we did today was supposed to stop at 4 pm, but because of the issues we encountered and the crowd, we extended beyond that time. Generally, the intervention will extend through the period of economic hardship, and it will be extended to other areas like healthcare and transportation. We are going to do a flag-off for other interventions soon, and there is no date yet to end the ongoing discounted food fair”.
