CITYFilel n BUS ESSDAY: www.buslnessdayonline.com
Tuesday 19 June 2012
Au hi residents groan as price of tomatoes skyrockets ... Ba~;ket goes for N16, 000 om! reskknt5 of Auchl in Edo Sta-e and its environs have decried
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the high cost of tomatoes In the an. .. Slying the sllUalion has corn-
pol.nded their hardship. NAN tl:ptlrtl that a basket of the variery of tomatoes popularly known as ~ Hausa
tomatoes: wtuch WaJ sold for N3. 000 about a month .p::. has now gone as hlgh as N16, 000. At Udd market. for e:umple. rour small lomato frulu now sen at NIOO, while III to leVen m( dlwn-sb.ed tomatoes COIl betwftcn NISO Ind N2OO. lnvutiZl.l lon revealed that the prohlbllive cost of I )malDa has forced many resldeolllo do Y'ithouI IOmalOe5 in !.helr meals. wtille some IOloalO sellers have abandoned
Othfi bills to pay to keep life going?- Adlgun asked. Howeyer, tomato sellers In the area altributed the hi8h cosl of the produce to sarchy caused by Insuftiden t supplies from farms In the nonh!!'m paris of the counny. lyabo Momoh, one of the seUel'!, noted thai Ihe problem wu often ttperienci!d uound Ihls lime of the yur.
1he sltuadon Is not ;new but what Is worriSDme is that WI!' have:neverseen tomatoes as apenslve as it Is tl1Is yeat. -Besides, our customers an apparendy not aware that the COlt of tomatoes we buy dictates our seJling prices. The price will definitely come down but howlOOn is what we doo't know.
-Hausa tomatoes have really gone OUI of reach of the ordinary man. As a result, we have resoned 10 buying and seUing nallft ('Okpella') tomatoes, whkh an: quile less expenslye, '"1be native tomatoes are wid In basins, whUe the Hausa type is sold in baskets. The nalive one currently.oes for N8, 000 per ba· sin; Momoh added. (NAN)
the buslnes.J Nana Abdul. a housewife. who did not blame anybody for lIIe high cost of the produce. noneCieleu. desc:rlbed the situation as ·pathetic· pardcu1arly in view of the prevalllng econllmic downrum In the country. -If one nends so much In buying to1D.l1DeS, whl;/J lJ JUSt an item In II meal's preparation, hQW tb!!'n can you afford oth!!'r itl!'lllll-sbe l~
Faith Olse, another resldeonl of Auchl, said the high cost of tomatoes had compd.!ed her 10 cook meals that rl!qu1red fewer tomatoes -ard If! must use tomatoes for my food. I now 1:-11,/ the one In tin cans.Malmunal Adlgun, another housewife, said the hlgb cost of tomatoes had com· pounded th ~ econom1c harwhlp of the people, panlcularly the poor. -Anyway, I mlSUJe that the present altuation II caus.od by the rains and II is obvious thai lomarou cannot be abundantly avaO· able throughout the yen Bur how long can we continue tile lhisl WhyshouJd wespend so much mo ley on foodstuff when we haye
Rain : FCT residents grapple with blocked drainages TUNJI OLAWJNI
F
or residents orme Fedt.ral CapllBi
Territory (FCT), the ~Iny ~uon Is fau becoming a nightmare.. SIm:e the ralnl began, many resldena ha'n' been sleeping with their eyes open. While some haw- had their property submergi!d by flooding. others hay!!' !heir hvuws demollshi!d. ChyFlIe. findings showed thaI while residents haVf' been battling to contain flooding. mtljflrity of th!!'m haye mu:ed the problem tl) blockage of clJainages In vinuaUy all the dry centres. Lasl week. when II l1Iined henlly for over an hour. many rOllw ' w:re flooded, thereby fordng mOlorum aQd commuters stranded with milny abnnd:>! Ing thelr vehicles alonS the highways.
The sltuatlon was most crldcalln IItellite towru including ~bwa, Gwagwalada, Karu and Gwarlnpa where residents were seen scooping waler from the.lr homes. An affected victfm in AMAC Estate whose howe was flooded before returning born work blamed the flooding on the blocked drainage at his frontage. The resident, who Identified Wmselr as Klngsley, lold CityAle '" have to ufgently mobilise to clear- my blocked drainage this morning. The local cound! has reFused to do lIS work;: J haye no choice but to do It myself: Another resident, Mike, who aald his room was flooded. also blamed the flood Ing on bJoc:kl!'d drainage. He lold ChyFUe. "many limes I had laid my renow lenanu: to find time to clear our blocked drainage, but they would nOI cooperate. All of us have now felt Ihe im· pact of our negligence;
Ondo to extend free bus scheme to major towns PETER DADA
AKURE odo State goYffRment Aid It was coneJuding plans to e:uend Ihe free bus ride schem~ for studenlS In unlfonn to major towns and ctles In the Itau!. The free bus sdleme, It would be recalled. was Inaugunned on June 12 this y~ar In AhJ.r~, the state capital by Governor Olusegun MlmIko. 1h~re are currendy 20 of the buses In opendon, but limJred to Ihe capltaldty Aderotimt Addola. secretary to the state government. laid Jownall!1S at the week· end thaI plans wue ongoing on the rrbus senH.e out of Akt.tn, revealing that th~ bUJel were procu~ by the pmunenl to CU5hlon the tnm5pOrtlng difficu1tift of the stud~nl!i foUowing the neent all sumldy r~ mow!.
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Primary and se<:ondary students elthfi In private or pubUc Khools In the Slate, who are In unUorm. according 10 the SSG, would soon begin 10 enjoy free ride to and from their school!! In other major towru: like Ondo. Oldtlpupa. Qre.lkare, Cwo, Igbokoda unong others. He deKflbed the pilot sch~me being ex· perimented In AIrur~. as laudable because parents an hemg rdl~ of the burden of haYing to take thdr WIrds to school ~day. . The SSG explalni!d thai the buses were currently pfylng major routes In the state capiral conveying students In uniforms to and from tchools, whU~ 40 others were reo leased for both Inm. dty and Interstate city shuttle services. "Apart from the 100 buses earlier procum:I for membeB of the Nadonal Union of Roads Transpon Worken. more would be procuri!d for the students free shunle scheme.