Lokoja
The prices of fish and promo have shot up astronomically at Lokoja markets, following the 48-hour ban on the sale of meat in Lokoja by the kogi state government to save public health.
Duaglobalnews reports that Governor Yahaya Bello, Friday ordered the ban due to the mysterious death of 12 cows in Lokoja on Thursday.
The state government has also set up group of experts comprising veterinary doctors and other health experts in the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment to unearth the circumstances behind the death of the animals with recommendations to check future occurrence.
A correspondent of the online publication who visited the vicinity of the closed International market and old markets on Saturday, reports that no single meat seller was seen transacting business even outside in the market.
Fish sellers, seen outside the gate of the international market, suddenly became the toast of buyers who shifted their demands from meat to fish as such buyers clustered round them rushing to buy fish.
Those whose purchasing capacity could not withstand the prices of fish and shifted to pomo(skin), described that of promo as equally prihibitive.
Mrs Serah Sani told Duaglobalnews that ” what I see in the market today,, interms of high price of fish is unprecedented.
” I came to the market to buy fresh fish of N1,000,but the quantity I got surprised me to the bone marrow. It is simply unavoidable,”she said.
A sizeable fresh fish which went for between N1, 000 and N1,500 before the ban on the sale of meatt, skyrocketed to N2,000 and N2,500 and extreme cases, N3,000.
Same went for dry fish whose price also hit the roof as at the time of this report.
Fish is supposed to be one of the affordable commodities in Lokoja, inview of the proximity of the ancient town to Rivers Niger and Benue, however, this is not to be due to various factors.
Some fishermen such as Mohammed Alli and Hamidu Alhassan attributed the high cost of fish in the confluence town, even before the ban that further triggered its to the high cost of transport.
“Prices of boat, hook and net we use in fishing have equally gone astronomically, coupled with the general inflationary trend in the country, among others,” Alli said.
Our correspondent also reports that behind the unique high cost of fish on Saturday, prices of other consumable and non consumable items were also on the high side with buyers paying their nose to make purchases.
Lokoja international market remains closed by the state government as part of measures to discourage large crowd and check the spread of the pandemic COVID-19 ravaging most parts of the world with frightening statistics of casess and casualties.
