Bakers threaten to halt services in March over unmet demands

The Association Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN), is threatening to halt its services in March if the federal government fails to meet its demand, the association said in a statement.

The bakers association has in the past two years been calling on the government to address the skyrocketing process of baking materials, which is forcing lots of its members to shut down operations, thus leading to job loss in the industry.

“The association as resolved at our council meeting will have no option left than to embark on total services withdrawal two weeks from the date of presentation of our charter of demands to ameliorate this unacceptable predicament,” the association said in a statement signed by Mansur Umar, national president and Jude Okafor, national secretary of AMBCN.

According to the statement, AMBCN has given a directive to bakers in all states of the federation including the FCT to stage a protest march in their various state government houses to hand over a document containing their demands.

The association added, “In the document shall include that; All baking materials have skyrocketed to all times high that is in the last seven months, for instance: Flour has risen from N30,000 to N50,000, Sugar from N35,000 to N75,000, Butter from N18,000 to N26,000, Diesel from N800 to N1300.”

“Firewood from N180,000 to N400,000, among others, that as a result about 30 percent of our members have since folded and it’s still counting, that members have reduced their staff intake by 40 percent to remain in business before the latest unprecedented jack up of the prices last week.”

“We therefore call on government at State and Federal levels to intervene immediately to halt this dangerous slide as it will worsen the security situation in the country.”

AMBCN called on the government to intervene by providing its members with palliatives promised to the sector since 2020, and open up importation of sugar which the association noted that the monopoly of the three major importers is causing untold hardship for Nigerians.

“It should be noted that our correspondences to offices of the chief of staff to President and secretary to the Government of the Federation have remained unattended to till date, instead the situation have deteriorated to unacceptable limits,” the statement stated.

“We also call on the federal government to intervene and interface with Flour Millers to put their prices at acceptable levels that will enable our baking business to thrive by reducing the ridiculous high charges placed on imported wheat.”

The association has advised all its local, state, and zonal chapters to adhere and “totally implement” accordingly to save the business from “being thrown into the already saturated unemployment market.”