By Chinyere Anyanwu
The Tomato Crates Dealers Association of Nigeria (TCDAN) and the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN) have threatened to cut off tomato supply to Lagos State over alleged destruction of their commodities by suspected area boys.
The National Chairman, Tomato Crates Dealers Association (TCDAN), Ahmed Alaramma, issued the threat at a press briefing in Zaria at the weekend.
According to him, the recent attack on its members at the Oke-Odo Market in Lagos led to the destruction of over N360 million worth of investment.
“Over 70 members of the association rent out the crates to tomato dealers across the country; we have over 60,000 crates which were about to be returned to the North at the market during the turmoil.
“These crates were burnt by the area boys during the clash and the area boys prevented our people from quenching the fire. We have video evidence and other proof supporting our claims,” the chairman said.
Alaramma also explained that the dealers switched from conveying tomatoes to the South with rafia baskets to plastic crates to mitigate damages and wastage. He said each empty crate cost N6,000, totalling N360 million investment losses.
He appealed to the Federal Government, Lagos State government, and other relevant stakeholders to look into the loss incurred and compensate the association accordingly.
He said the association was already in touch with its legal team over available legal remedies in the event of an unfavourable response from the government.
“If nothing is done, we will have no option than to cut supply of tomatoes to Lagos over this incident,” Alaramma added.