Nigerian Bakers under the aegis of the Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria (PBAN) have said many of its members have started to shut down their operations due to the hike in diesel price and exchange rate.

The President of the association, Emmanuel Onuorah, who spoke to The Cable, said things in the baking industry are not getting any better.

“Things are not getting better. We are still where we are. Diesel price is still hovering between N650 and N700. Even the price of the nylon that we put the bread in has just increased by about 20 percent. It’s not looking any better. Light is still comatose.

We don’t know what is happening with the DisCos. Whether system collapse or inadequate generation, there is no public light.

The diesel is expensive. People are trying to rightsize, scale down, drop workers to remain in business. The government doesn’t seem to be listening to anybody. It’s not even only the bakers, it’s an industry-wide thing. MAN is crying. Hospitals that are running diesel are also optimising.”he said

Onuorah stated that the prices of bread will certainly go up due to the increase in operational materials.

“It will certainly go up. Because if you don’t pass on the cost, how do you remain in business? But on the other hand, are we not Nigerians? Do customers have the income to bear this?

You have to look at all these things and place everything in context. There is a human element to all these.

People are bending backwards to see what they can do. Things such as reducing the sizes of their bread or cutting down on the weight. This is so that we can just maintain what are we doing.”he said