Bread may soon become scarce for its consumers across the country, as bakers under the aegis of Premium BreadMakers Association of Nigeria (PBAN) are mulling a total shutdown of operations.
In an interview in which the declaration was made, PBAN President, Emmanuel Onuorah lamented the steady and fast increases in the price of diesel in the past few days, saying the development would be responsible for why members of the association would soon shutdown.
According to Onuorah, the continued rise in the price of diesel had made the price of bread to be double.
While maintaining that a total shutdown of operations by break-makers was imminent, the PBAN President decried how the diesel prices hikes are taking a serious toll on bread production for its members.
His words: “This country may collapse on everybody. Industries will shut down operations, and all of us will go down. Imagine the price of diesel going towards N850 per litre.
“Remember, I said wheat is not the problem, and that it is energy that will be the major problem in this Russian-Ukraine war. Almost N850 for a litre of diesel, and they are still increasing it every day.”
“Is it that marketers just brought in this product and this is why they are increasing the price by the day? Our businesses will just begin to shut down one after the other.
“That’s what I’m contemplating doing now. I will shut down all the bakeries. Diesel is what we use in running our generators, diesel is what we use in running our oven. What we were buying N350 is now about N850 in less than a week.”
Meanwhile, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), had blamed the increment in the price of diesel on the recent clampdown on illegal refineries in the country.
According to the association, the illegal oil facilities were producing diesel in manageable volumes for the market, which reduced the cost of locally produced diesel when compared to the imported product.
