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Nigerians were observed in their numbers at popular markets in Lagos as they made last-minute purchases ahead of the Christmas celebration on Wednesday.
Visits to these markets showed that the prices of foodstuffs and other items had increased compared to last year, and even last week, Nigerians were still buying what they could.
At the Ijora frozen foods market, the price of a carton of turkey jumped from N44,000 last Thursday to N57,000 on Monday.
A carton of chicken was retailing at about N84,000, and a sack of croaker fish was sold for N120,000.
There were lots of customers buying clothes and such at the popular Tejuosho Market, although some of the surrounding bookshops had closed for the Yuletide.
It was at the Tejuosho Market that The PUNCH correspondent discovered that some point-of-sale operators had devised means to avoid paying the N50 electronic transfer levy on transactions above N10,000.
Withdrawing N9,999 instead of N10,000, a POS operator, Miracle Daniel, explained that was her way of avoiding the levy.
“This way, I won’t have to pay that N50. They want to kill us. The machine will collect its charges, but they will still charge me the electronic transfer levy. See, ehn, N1 will not kill me,” she argued.
Point-of-sale operators raised their charges in early December in line with the implementation of the Electronic Money Transfer Levy of N50 by the Federal Inland Revenue Services charged on any electronic transactions of N10,000 and above.
At the Trade Fair market along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, there were a lot of business activities as customers bought cosmetics, hair, makeup, perfumes, and foodstuffs.
The prices of onions ranged from N1000 to N3000 for small to medium-sized pieces.
Big yellow bell peppers were N2000 a piece, the same with the red ones. A ball of cabbage was priced from N1000 upwards. A paint bucket of tomatoes was N6000 inside Trade Fair, and half of it was N3500.
Cayenne pepper and the Habanero pepper, popularly known in Yoruba as ‘ata rodo,’ are still sold at N500 for between 10 and 15 pieces.
Some live broiler chickens sold for N20,000 and N18,000 each, and a pair of layers sold for N17,000.
A customer, Nneka, described the two layers at N17,000 as a better deal compared to the other one.
“This time last year, I would have been using that N20,000 to buy two of the boilers, but here we are,” she added.
Live turkey at the Iyana-Iba market went for N31,000.
A bucket of tomatoes sold for N7000, while the same size of cayenne pepper, habanero pepper, and ‘tatashe’ sold for N5000 each. As of Saturday, tomatoes sold for N4000, and the peppers ranged from N2500 to N3500 at the same market.
Big yellow bell peppers still sold at N2000 a piece, the same as the red ones, but green peppers were cheaper. A big-sized green pepper was sold for N500.
At the market, a small basket of tomatoes sold for N15,000, and the pepper was N12,000.
Also, transport fares have increased. Mile 2 to Ketu-Mile 12, which used to be N700, was now N800, with a driver even saying he had collected N500 for Oshodi to Ketu-Mile 12 on Monday.
From Mile 2 to Idumota, it was N1000 on Tuesday morning; the regular price was N700.
Iyana-Iba to Mile 2, which used to be between N300 and N400, was now N500.
