₦airaland Forum

Many traders in major markets across Lagos have complained about low patronage, noting that the soaring cost of food items is affecting the sales of commodities, including rice, eggs and many others.

For traders at the popular Ketu market, most prices of food items have escalated in the last few months, thereby diminishing purchasing power with them witnessing low sales return.

One of the traders in the market, Abdullahi Ahmadu, disclosed that a bag of wheat now sells at N17,000, a 21.43 percent jump from N14,000 previous months.

“The prices of items increase every day. If you come to the market tomorrow, you will not get the same price you will get today,” Ahmadu said.

“We don’t know what will happen as we are entering a festive season now. For most of us, we are even looking at how to get more money to buy items and sell during the season.”

Another trader in the market, Mrs. Bunmi Fash explained that the price of local rice (50 kilogrammes), which used to be N20,000 in the first half of the year — rising by 15 percent — increased to N23,000.

“Foreign-made rice (50kg), on the other hand, surged from N25,000 in the first half of the year to N30,000, signifying a 20 percent increase. Also, vegetable oil (25 litres) had a market price of N23,000 but increased to N25,000, up by 8.7 percent.

Mrs. Fash noted that a crate of medium-sized eggs jumped from N1200 to N2000, year-on-year, representing a 67 percent increase.

Further investigation at Daleko Market in Mushin shows that a big basket of tomatoes was N19,000, with a small basket traded for N4500. A 10kg size of semo went from N4800 to N5300, while a bag of corn that used to be between N8000 and N9000 doubled its price to about N19,000 and N22,000.

A bag of groundnuts increased from N48,000 in October to N52,000 in November.

A carton of croaker fish is now N30,000, and a medium-sized frozen chicken (full) rose from N1,700 in October and N1,500 in November 2020 to N2,000 in November.

ShobayoEmma:
Hi nairalanders, I do have a small vacant land besides my house which I do use to cultivate common vegetables and crops. But the seal in planting such in me has started declining as goats and sheep in my neighborhood seem to be on a special mission to frustrate my little effort in barricading the said farm with nets and wire as the house is not fenced. They destroyed both the net and the crops I had been nurturing.

I complained to the owners of these 'Invaders' but they seemed not to be acting on my complaint.

Note: when my dog was misbehaving just last month I was made to kill it which I did.

I believe many could have interest in planting such crops and vegetables around them to help in reducing cost of foodstuffs but for the fear of these untamed goats and sheep.

Now I wish to know if the anti-open grazing recently passed by the southwest governors is also applicable to domestic animals.

Thanks.

Two Nigerian fraudsters arrested in DOJ’s Operation reWired have been sentenced to a combined 22 ½ years in federal prison, announced acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham.

Opeyemi Abidemi Adeoso, 46, pleaded guilty in June of 2020 to 17 counts of wire fraud, eight counts of money laundering, six counts of use of a false passport, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced Thursday by Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn to 151 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $9.3 million in restitution.

His coconspirator, Benjamin Adeleke Ifebajo, 47, pleaded guilty in March 2020 to seven counts of wire fraud, six counts of money laundering, four counts of use of a false passport, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced in June to 120 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $2.1 million in restitution.

“These defendants utilized multiple tactics to deceive unsuspecting businesses out of their money. By assuming fictitious identities they defrauded dozens, which risks business health and in turn, erodes overall economic health,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno. “Along with our federal law enforcement partners, we will continue to hold fraudsters accountable for their crimes and the harm they cause.”

Agents initiated an investigation into the pair in August 2018, after receiving a report of a business email compromise scheme from a victim who had transferred more than $504,000 into a bank account registered to a “Daniel Sammy Campbell.” Using the address associated with the account, they traced it back to Mr. Adeoso. Agents then reviewed bank surveillance footage and traced funds to identify Mr. Adeoso and Mr. Ifebajo, Nigerian nationals in the U.S. on non-immigrant vias.

According to court documents, the defendants admitted they used fraudulent passports to open individual bank accounts under assumed names. Other members of the conspiracy then sent phishing emails – which spoofed the email addresses of victims’ employers, supervisors, and other known business contacts – to numerous individuals prompting them to initiate wire transfers from their personal bank accounts or from their employer’s bank accounts.

Once the money hit the defendants’ accounts, they withdrew the money, often tens of thousands of dollars at a time, in cash, via cashiers’ checks, or through electronic transfer, then deposited the funds into other alias accounts. Occasionally, they made purchases with the money.

Mr. Adeoso is believed to have used aliases including, but not limited to: Peter Kuffor, George Macharty, Nelson Johnson, Braheem Larke, Michael Albert, Michael Jaden Sean, Michael Jeff Brown, and Benjamin Zee Brown. Mr. Ifebajo is believed to have used aliases including, but not limited to: Joseph Eric Johnson, Jeremiah Alex Malcom, Tidwell Anthony Wilson, and Andrew James Williams.

A third co-conspirator, Temitope Aminat Folorunsho, 35, pleaded guilty in July 2020 to multiple counts of wire fraud, money laundering, use of false passport, and conspiracy and was sentenced in July 2021 to 37 months in federal prison and ordered to pay roughly $221,000 in restitution. Ms. Folorunsho used aliases Terri L. Brown, Michelle Angel Cole, Robyn L. Granell, and Deborah Kiki Philip.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office, the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service, and Homeland Security Investigations’ Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Eggers prosecuted the case.

Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing has warned Chinese citizens and firms working in the African continent against travelling to some risky areas amid the kidnappings of Chinese citizens in Africa.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, on Monday confirmed the abduction of five Chinese nationals in the Democratic Republic of Congo,

He urged those in dangerous places to leave as soon as possible.

Mr Zhao said the abductions took place during an attack on a gold mine in the village of Mukera in eastern Congo, adding that in another recent incident in Nigeria, three Chinese employees were also kidnapped.

The spokesperson stressed that there were “great security risks’’ in Nigeria and Congo, and these incidents were not the first of their kind either.

“China’s Foreign Ministry, embassies and consulates had previously advised nationals not to go to high-risk areas.’’

China has significantly increased its investments in the mining industry in Africa in recent years.

This has led to growing local resentment towards wealthy Chinese employees working in countries such as the resource-rich Congo, where living standards are extremely low.

In 2008, Congo’s former president Joseph Kabila signed a highly controversial nine-billion-dollar agreement guaranteeing China mining rights in the country in return for funding for much-needed infrastructure projects.

A few weeks ago, Kabila’s successor, Felix Tshisekedi, called for a review of the agreement and for what he termed “fairer deals”.