Juliet Buna
The Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria has urged the Federal Government to make favourable and implementable economic policies that would encourage and promote baking in the country.
The National President of PBAN, Emmanuel Onuorah, stated this in a statement released on Monday in Lagos.
According to him, lack of access to foreign exchange and high levy on imported raw materials needed for bread production is crippling the baking industry across the country.
Onuorah said, “The bread-making industry requires necessary government protection given its crucial importance in the value chain of food availability to the mass populace.”
“The Federal Government through a deliberate policy should suspend levies placed on wheat and other baking products to encourage investors’ survival in the industry,” he said.
The PUNCH earlier reported that PBAN was aiming to tackle the challenges confronting the baking industry.
“The resultant effect of this is that Nigerians will die of hunger with the high levies placed on bread-making products.
“And if bread which is the easiest food for a common man in the country becomes extremely unaffordable to buy, how do the people survive?
“For the players in the industry to survive the quagmire, the government should remove the levy placed on the importation of flour, wheat, yeast, and other baking materials. If flour and wheat are cheaper, the cost of bread will also come down, or else, Nigerians may die of hunger,” he said.
