Petty trader decries high cost of goods

Name: Rebecca Ruben

Origin: Kogi State

Business: I roast yam and plantain with pepper sauce. I also roast corn and pear when it’s in season.

Profit: I was making little profit but since the prices of food items have been going up, it has been difficult for me to cope. Some days I just sit at home because I don’t have money to go to the market.

The plantain I usually bought for N700 is now N1,500 and the price of a tuber of yam has also increased. The money I spend on transportation is now twice what it used to be, and most times the money I make after sales is not enough to buy more goods. This is the only business sustaining my entire family since my husband lost his job due to sickness.

Customers complain anytime I increase the price a little to accommodate the price changes in the market and sometimes I am forced to sell below the cost price because once I roast and don’t sell, I cannot sell the next day, so I make losses some days.

Dependants: Husband and seven children

School fees: I am finding it difficult to pay my children’s school fees. Sometimes I get assistance from customers, but that is not enough because my children spend more time at home than in school.

House rent: My monthly rent was N5,000 and I still owed some months’ rent when my landlord who was a bit understanding died. Now his children have increased the rent to N6,000 and asked me to either pay a year rent or move out. I have been pleading with them but they have threatened to throw me out if I don’t pay.

Challenges: The high cost of food items is a huge challenge for me. If the price of food items can come down, it will go a long way to help my situation a little bit. To eat is a big problem for us and my husband who is supposed to assist me has been sick.

  CHINWE AGBEZE