Nigerian Bread makers have disclosed their plans to proceed on a nationwide strike as from February 27, 2024.
The National President of Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCON), Mansur Umar, made this known in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the statement, their decision to go on strike is due to the failure of the federal government to implement the agreement it entered into with the association in 2020.
The association lamented the growing prices of materials used by its members and called for the immediate implementation of financial support palliatives for bakers as promised by the Federal Government as post COVID-19 support programmes for Small and Medium Enterprises for bakers who have lost over 40 per cent of their membership and still counting.
The statement by the association said the strike was due to the “multifarious increase in the prices of baking materials such as flour, sugar, yeast, vegetable oil, petrol, diesel all occasioned by subsidy removal and forex deregulation.”
It added that,
“Multiple taxations from several federal, state, local government agencies fees and levies, hike in business activities in Nigeria are also some of the reasons for the impending strike action.”
The statement noted that,
“The Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria have critically accessed the state of our business operation, consequently demand the liberalisation of flour and sugar importation, reduction or total removal of import duties on major baking materials such as flour, sugar, butter, yeast etc as applicable to other commodities as have recently been done by the federal government and Provision of concessionary forex exchange to flour millers and other stakeholders as well as reduction of tariff on imported wheat and sugar.”
Other demands outlined by the association include the development of cultivation and processing of wheat and sugar cane in Nigeria, and the removal of multiple taxations at all government levels.
