From a commercial point of view, a market is the meeting place of suppliers and consumers of goods and services. Production ensures the creation of goods and services.
Commerce ensures their distribution to where and how they are wanted. Therefore, those who want goods and services, and those who supply them, usually meet and interact at a market.
Over the years, the interactions of demand and supply eventually determines the prices of goods and services. However, the availability of alternative products, which introduces choice, could also affect the prices of goods and services.
Again, the costs of such services like transportation, advertising, warehousing, banking and insurance, could also affect the prices of goods and services in the market.
In Nigeria, the prices of petroleum products almost always affect and determine the fluctuation of the prices of other goods and services.
The prices of petroleum products could be affected by many factors. Like personnel strike, turnaround maintenance, sudden breakdown of major components in the refineries and so on.
However, the announcement that the Government has removed fuel subsidy has introduced another factor that determines the prices of petroleum products.
From the date of that announcement till date, both the prices of the petroleum products and those of other goods and services, have not only fluctuated and summersaulted but has skyrocketed continually.
In consequence, every trader in the market has become an authority to hike and inflate prices at his whims and caprices!
The prices at which goods and services are supplied today immediately become obsolete in the marketing transactions of tomorrow.
Cries and complaints of consumers fall on deaf ears. As traders advance both logics and fallacies to defend their extorting actions.
It is a case of too much madness in the market places! The falcon can no longer hear the falconer! Things have fallen apart in the land, but the situation is still within remedy.
To check the trend of this crazy horse, I wish to make five suggestions:
- Reverse the fuel subsidy removal.
- Set the current and low prices for petroleum products.
- Set prices for other goods and services in the market places.
- Form and send out aggressive taskforces to ensure and enforce immediate compliance.
- Empower the youths into agriculture. And also, give agricultural loans and grants to farmers.
To act on these is now. Before the masses and the youths take to the streets in aggressive protests.
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