As the stay-at-home directive given by the Delta State government continued Thursday, health workers assigned to monitor the sales of staple food and other items at designated markets in Ughelli, Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state, have compromised the order of the State government over hike in price of food stuffs in markets.
This is just as traders in the area have appealed to the local government chairman and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to stop hoodlums collecting the sum N500 from them before allowing them to market their wares.
Our correspondent who visited the Ogele primary school market reported that three health workers were seen supervising the sale of ‘garri’ at N1,000 per basket, above the N800 ordered by the Local Council Chairman, Hon. Godwin Adode.
One of the health workers who spoke to ExpressDay on condition of anonymity said: “When the woman (garri seller) came, she told us that she bought the garri at a very high price and she would want to make profit”.
The customers who were lamenting the sudden increase in the cost of garri, stated that the new price was unaffordable to them.
They disclosed that the chairman had earlier warned that traders must sell at the normal price, even as they frowned at the way the health workers were supervising the sale of the garri at high prices.
Lamenting the extortion, a trader who gave her name simply as Mrs. Janet said that “since we relocate to Ogelle primary school, some men have been coming to collect N500 claiming to be council workers.
“After collection, they would give us number; I was given number 45, and my second 46. We are appealing to the local government chairman to stop these hoodlums.”
Addressing traders, the Chairman of Ughelli North, Godwin Adode, warned that anyone collecting illegal fees from traders should be arrested and prosecuted.
