Owing to the rising prices of foodstuff, a food vendor, Mrs Grace Iorshe, says she is looking for another lucrative trade to replace her food business.

Iorshe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Tuesday in Makurdi, that she had been running at a loss because of the rising prices of foodstuff and slow patronage.

She said a small basin of yam flour, popularly known as amala, which was sold for less than N15,000, was now being sold for N35,000.

According to her, she can no longer cope because she is not recouping her investment, let alone making any profit.

“So, trying to break after cooking is usually a big challenge. If I reduce the quantity in order to make a little profit that will sustain me in the business, my customers will complain bitterly.

“I am at a cross road now. I am contemplating leaving the business for another one that will be more lucrative.

“Before now selling of cooked food was a very lucrative business, but now the reverse is the case,” Iorshe said.

In a related development, some residents of Makurdi, who spoke in separate interviews with NAN, said the astronomical increase in the prices of foodstuff had made life more difficult as their meagre income could no longer accommodate their expenses.

Mrs Veronica Adi, a hair dresser said that a bushel of rice, which used to be Nigeria’s staple food, and was sold for between N12,000 and N18,000, had suddenly risen to as high as between N33,000 and N36,000.

Mr Samuel Yongo, a primary school teacher, who noted that yam, which used to be the cheapest food in Benue, had now become out of the reach of so many as a big tuber now cost between N3,500 and N4,500.

Mr Bernard Vingiryo, a civil servant, said that a bag of beans, which sold for about N80,000, was now being sold for as high as N220,000, depending on the size and quality.

Mr Iornumbe Num, a motorcyclist, decried the situation saying the government needed to do something fast to save many Nigerians that were now on the verge of death.

“We have not experienced this before. The government, particularly the Federal Government, should put price control mechanisms in place to check arbitrary increase of prices by business people,” Num said.