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Gruesome Murder of Ibadan Traders By Boko Haram; Famine looms in S'West
[Osun Defender] Nigerians, especially those in the South West, should brace up for an imminent shortage of foodstuff or prepare to pay more for the little available ones. That is the message from traders from the South who source for goods in the northern part of the country, believed to be the food basket of the country.

They vowed never to go to the North to buy goods until insecurity in the area is fully brought under control. The threat came in the aftermath of Friday killing of 10 traders from Bodija market, Ibadan, Oyo State capital, allegedly by Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
snuffies in Borno State.

Already, the specter of violence in the region had provoked an increase in the cost of some foodstuff such as beans, maize, sorghum, millet and rice in markets in Ibadan.

The South depends largely on the North for supplies of foodstuff including beans, sorghum, millet, tomatoes, pepper, yam and cattle, which are cultivated and reared in commercial quantity there. It is therefore an open secret that when the North sneezes, the South catches cold. Following the latest pogrom, Yoruba traders under the auspices of Bodija Market Traders Association had sworn that none of their members would henceforth go to Borno and other hotbeds of Boko Haram until peace and order are restored.

The implication of this is that once the existing stock is exhausted, there would be little or no replenishment, as their Hausa counterparts in the same trade, who might have the opportunity of still bringing foodstuff in could sell at arbitrary prices in line with the economic law of demand and supply.

Secretary of the association, Mr. Sola Faribido, said the latest killing of their colleagues was the last straw that broke the camel's back. "This is the second time they will kill our people this year alone. In May they killed four and last Friday, 10.

We cannot continue to risk our lives and we had put a stop to such business trips until we heard the news that the security agencies had chased them (Boko Haram) out of the place.That was what emboldened those who met their untimely death to go on that trip -now see the result!", the traders' scribe lamented. He confirmed the sudden hike in prices of some foodstuff including a species of beans referred to as ewa oloyin in Yoruba as well as rice and sorghum.

He said with only their Hausa counterparts able to interact with their kinsmen and thus manage to bring few goods from the North, supply would be low and this was bound to affect prices as it could not meet the demand by consumers. He said, "Once they monopolise the trade, they can afford to sell at exorbitant prices."

The market leader urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts at crushing the Boko Haram snuffies and restore normality in the troubled region, so that economic activities could resume in full. A trader in the market, Alhaja Medinat Makinde, told Daily Sun that since the tragic incident, the prices of foodstuff in the market had shot up.

According to her, the price of beans had jumped from N350 to N500. A market survey also revealed that the price of white beans rose from N220 to N240, rice from N340 to N360. A shopper and student of the University of Ibadan, Mr. Julius Eyebiokin, corroborated Daily Sun's findings, saying he was shocked at the price hike when he went for shopping yesterday.
Posted by: Fred 2013-07-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=371629