No fewer than forty bakeries have shut down in Abuja, over the high cost of production and multiple taxations.
Some of the bakeries that have closed shop are Abumme Bakery Ltd., in Lugbe, Airport Road; Hamdala Bakery, Kuje; Harmony Bite Bakery, Karu; Doweey Delight Bakery Ltd, in Kubwa. Others include Merit Baker, Mpape; Funez Baker, Orozo, and Slyz Bakery, in Wuse Zone-2, among others.
The Chairman, Abuja Master Bakers, FCT, Ishaq AbdulRaheem, said bakeries in Abuja could no longer cope with the high cost of production, adding that most members had lost their means of livelihood, while workers had been out of jobs due to the shutdown.
He called on the Federal Government to quickly intervene and check agencies of government frustrating bakery business.
He identified some of the agencies to include the National Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Environmental Standards and Regulations, and Enforcement Agency, (NESREA).
He said that the six Area Councils in the FCT had also made business very unpleasant and difficult for bakeries because of huge taxes and tenement rates.
An Abuja baker, Nuhu Musa, of Hamdala Bakery, Kuje, in the FCT, appealed to the government to regulate the activities of these agencies so reduce the different taxes they imposed on bakers.
Musa said many bakeries were struggling to survive due to the high cost of production.
“We want the government to regulate these agencies so that our production process will be easy. These taxes are negatively impacting our business to the extent that many of us have closed down.
“This is also affecting employment, as many bakery workers are out of work presently; and you know the effect of that on the society; some will turn to criminality”, he said.
Musa lamented that in some instances, NAFDAC will come to their bakeries to check for certificates, while the SON will come for the registration of the product. “How much are we making to warrant all these checking and payments”, he queried.
Similarly, some other Abuja residents who spoke with newsmen decried the high cost of bread in the market, stressing that bread was gradually becoming the food for the rich.
According to a resident Julius Anthony, some of the bread he usually bought for N500 per loaf now cost as much as N1,000. Another resident of FCT, A’isha Danjuma, called on the government to immediately intervene over the high cost of bread, adding that “bread is the food for the masses and must not be taken away from them”.
