Protests as ‘pure water’ sells for N20 in Edo State

Price of sachet water,
popularly known as ‘pure
water’ has skyrocketed to N20
from N10 in some parts of Edo
State.
This is just as price of bottled
water rose from N50 to
between N70 and N80.
Following the development,
hawkers of the product have
lamented low patronages.
Before now, a bag of sachet
water was sold between N80
to N100 but now, it has now
moved from N150 to 200.

Speaking about the incident in
Benin City, the Edo State
capital, a ‘pure water’ hawker,
Helen Usunobun said they
could not cope with the hike in
price which would leave them
making N30 profit for every
bag of satchet water.
Her words, “They said dollar
has gone up. Whether dollar is
in the water, we don’t know.”
Another hawker, Mrs. Enoma
Blessing, said people that
used to consume four satchet
water, now buy only one per
day.

Irhue said a film roll that sold
for N600,000 last week now
sells for N920,000 while
packaging material rose from
N3300 to N5000.
According to him, “Nobody can
give water treatment and sell
at the former price of N100. It
is a terrible situation we have
found ourselves.
“It is the sourcing of the
materials that is causing these
problems.”
Chairman of the Water
Producers in the state, Henry
Eremokhai, said the approved
price by the association was
N120.