Breadmakers in the nation have revealed that they will be carrying out a four-day warning strike from Thursday, July 21, 2022, because of the rising cost of doing business in Nigeria.
Emmanuel Onuorah, the President of the Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria (PBAN), while alerting the public through a statement on Wednesday, July 20, said that bakery operations in the nation have almost become impossible because of the continuous hike in the prices of bakery materials and fuel (diesel).
Onuorah disclosed that the association members (owners, partners of premium bakeries and managing directors) are operating on monumental losses, an inappropriate development that is no longer sustainable.
In a move to assure the survival of the Premium breadmaking industry in Nigeria, we have chosen to go for a withdrawal of services starting from Thursday, July 21, for four days during the first instance and where there is no intervention from the government, we shall escalate the time of the withdrawal, read the statement by breadmakers.
The reasons for the withdrawal of these services are the continuous increase in the cost of baking materials and to request for the Federal Government to cease charging a 15% Wheat development tax on wheat imports.
Furthermore, they also want to request NAFDAC to inspect downwards the 154,000 naira penalty levied on bakeries on late renewal of certificates and to offer members access to grants and minimal loans being given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Minor, Small as well as Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) and the last will be the stoppage of multi – agencies regulation of the breadmaking industry.
He stated that, therefore, the withdrawal of services is the only method we assume we can utilise to get to the Federal Government and Nigerians and let them know our difficulty and how tough it has been with the breadmaking industry of Nigeria.
