Nigeria: Bakers stopped production for five days

Lagos / NG. (bbc / tto) «The strike is absolutely shameless and shows no concern at all for the common man», people say. «They are just responding to market pressures», say the others. Both parties are talking about bread, flour, other raw materials and the nationwide strike of the Nigerian Master Bakers and Caterers Association. The association stopped bread production across the country for five days in protest against the rising cost of raw materials. Bakers say that once the strike ends they will increase the price of a loaf of bread by about 15 percent. The strike follows President Umaru Yar´Adua´s refusal to call on flour makers to reduce the cost of flour – which recently went up from 23 USD per 50 kilogram bag to about 31 USD per bag. «The decision to shut down the bakeries was painful but inevitable», says a spokesman for the bakers in Lagos, Lateef Oguntoyinbo. But not all bakeries are striking, because «our association has not written to ask us to join the strike». Other bakers disagree with the calls on President Yar´Adua to intervene in the crisis, saying the problem comes from the flour millers rather than the government: «We understand the arguments and we sympathise with the striking bakers, but they are missing the point by trying to transfer the problem to the consumer». Last but not least: We have read for hours about the striking bakers in Nigeria, but nowhere we found any reference to the somersaults of the global grain market.