Some frozen food traders have lamented the effect of the nationwide outage occasioned by the industrial action by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on their businesses.
The traders disclosed this in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
A frozen food trader in the Satellite Town area of the state, Mrs Mercy Salawu, expressed the fear of losing her stock due to the power situation.
“The NLC strike has really affected business. Since it began, there had been a power outage. Our major fear is that our frozen stocks do not get bad due to the electricity situation.
“Since the strike commenced, I have been running my generator and this has incurred extra cost for me.
“We had to cut down on what we stock due to the power situation.
“We hope that the government and labour come to an agreement soon because the masses are suffering,” Salawu said.
On her part, Mrs Otibho Olunola, a cold food supplier at Abule Egba, decried the impact of the electricity shortage on her business and the extra cost being incurred.
“We just heard that there had been a temporary suspension of the strike, yet the electricity has not been restored.
“We had to buy fuel over N10,000 to keep the stock frozen due to the power outage. If we continue in this manner, how can we sustain the business?
“The strike has really taken its toll on us. In as much as it is for the common good of all, we hope it will be resolved as soon as possible,” Olunola said.
Also, Mr Joel Oduware, a poultry processor at Ikeja, decried poor patronage of frozen foods.
“Aside from the electricity shortage currently affecting our trade due to the NLC strike, we have been witnessing low sales.
“There has been low purchasing power among the people due to the food inflation we are currently facing.
“Also, with the power situation due to the strike, our business seems to be at a risk.
“Now, we have to spend extra to power our generators to keep our poultry frozen. We just hope to see a respite very soon from these challenges,” Oduware said.
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He urged the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the minimum wage issue to avoid further strike.
The strike which commenced on Monday was called to protest the failure of the Federal Government to approve a new minimum wage by May 31 and its failure to reverse the hike in electricity tariff.
Following the strike, the national power grid was shut resulting in power outage across the country.
However, the NLC and TUC have agreed to suspend the strike for five days.(NAN)
