The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has condemned artificial inflation induced by market middlemen, lauding traditional rulers in the state for their approach to stop activities of those fixing prices of food items.
In a statement by the spokesperson to the governor, Olawale Rasheed, on Friday, Adeleke also tasked the State Food Security Implementation Committee to move faster in their assignment, expressing happiness that traditional rulers in Osun State have acted to regulate food prices and curtail negative activities of middlemen in the marketplaces.
According to the governor, the actions of some members of the Osun State Council of Traditional Rulers on price control have assisted the government in its quest to address food insecurity in the state.
He praised the traditional rulers for impressing on market leaders the need to avoid unnecessary price increases, calling on all other traditional rulers in to engage market leaders on the urgency of price moderation.
“I task our royal fathers to engage market associations and stop exploitation of our people. We must engage market associations to ensure that voluntary price control is introduced.
“We recognise the importance of market associations. We see them as strong partners in governance. To that end, we call on them to join hands with the government and traditional institutions to lower food inflation.
“I am also directing my Special Adviser on Markets to move quickly to support our royal fathers in this new drive to institute traditional price control. The ‘Iyalojas and Babalojas’ (market leaders) should be integrated into the implementation process,” the Governor directed.
Meanwhile, Adeleke has directed the Food Security Implementation Committee to move faster to ensure the realisation of a secured and accessible food supply value chain in Osun State.
He tasked the committee to quickly come up with actionable plans, deliverables and timeliness, noting that food security is a matter demanding urgent attention.