The Association of Onions Producers, Processors and Marketers of Nigeria (OPMAN), has threatened to shut down the supply of Onions to the entire Southern region of Nigeria by Monday, June 7th.
The association alleged that about N4.5 billion worth of Onions and properties were reportedly destroyed by suspected hoodlums across the Southern States in the last few months in addition to the loss of lives of members of the association without any form of compensation.
The National President of the association, Alhaji Aliyu Isa, disclosed this during a press briefing with members of the press after an emergency meeting of the association held at his Sokoto office.
Isa called on State Governors to urgently collaborate with the federal government to set up a committee to look into the root causes of the numerous attacks on members of the association or face severe consequences.
His words: “Reference to the national executive meeting held today, we are here to report to the members of the public that following the incident that happened in Aba, Abia State, Shasa in Oyo State and Mbaise local government area of Imo State respectively which results to the loss of; in Aba, three members, destruction of about 30 trailers and 9 utility cars, 50 stores and 10,000 bags of Onions including other valuables.”
“During the last #EndSARS protests, other people were compensated leaving out our members. And In Shasha where we lost 27 lives, 5 trailers, 5,600 bag of Onions, 12 utility cars and other valuables.”
“Also, in February, this year, in Imo State, two trucks of Onions were lost worth about N13, 000,000. The above problems resulted to our earlier action to suspend the supply of foodstuffs to the Southern States in February through our parent union.”
“After full deliberation by the executive of members of this association and the failure of government to respond to our cry, we have thereby reached these decisions.”
“We are calling on the state and federal government to restore law and order in the state. We also called on the good people of the Southern part of Nigeria to live with the Hausa community in peace, as we are only there for our lawful businesses.”
“We also called on state government to collaborate with federal government to set up a committee to investigate the incident that leads to the loss of lives and properties of our members.”
Isa said that if the government failed to adhere to the association’s demands, “we are shutting down the supply of Onions to the entire South by Monday, June 7, 2021. There will be no truck that will off-load Onions by 12midnight of Friday 11th June 2021.”
