Price of sachet water has increased by 100 per cent in Abuja, a survey conducted by National Mirror in the nation’s capital has shown.
The rising price of sachet water coincided with sudden re-appearance of long queues at fuel stations, following scarcity of premium motor spirit, popularly known as petrol in the city.
Sachet water, also called ‘pure water’ is the most handy and cheapest drinking water for many homes and offices across the country. The packaged water is consumed more during the hot season, as currently experienced in Abuja and other parts of the country. Until its price ballooned by 100 percent between the last weekend and yesterday, a bag of sachet was sold between N70 and N80 by wholesalers.
In most cases, three or four bags were sold for N250 by the wholesalers. Each sachet was also sold for N10 by retailers and vendors who sell mainly on highways and on major streets before the price rose. But on Monday, vendors and retailers sold sachet water pack for N15 per sachet or two sachets for N25, as observed by our reporter.
A bag of sachet water was sold between N130 and N150 by wholesalers in many parts of the city. Some residents who spoke with National Mirror lamented that the rise in price was wicked and would further compound the prevailing socio-economic woes being experienced by many people in the city, and other parts of the country.
Olubunmi Adesina who spoke with our correspondent said: “We shouldn’t let the poor this way. Things are becoming too unbearable for the masses. If water which God gives us freely could be this costly, then, many people will continue to suffer. We voted for change, we want to see change for the better, not change for the worse. Nigerians are suffering, President Buhari and other leaders in Nigeria should come to our rescue.”
During the hot season, an adult could drink about 12 sachets or more a day, which implies an adult pays about N150 for drinking water per day.
Efforts to officially get the reason for the rise in price of the water by our reporter yesterday however proved abortive, as he could not immediately locate any sachet water factory in the city, nor get the contact of chairman of sachet water producers in the nation’s capital. But, some of the wholesalers claimed the producers had complained of increased cost of production such as dearth of petrol to run their facilities. – National Mirror
