The Onion Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (OPMAN) has announced its decision to suspend onion supply to the Southeast over insecurity.
The National President of OPMAN, Aliyu Isah, made the announcement on Wednesday
He said the association’s decision was based on the recent hijack of two of their members’ trucks by gunmen suspected to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Gunmen suspected to be members of IPOB have been attacking critical public infrastructure in the southeast for some weeks now while also killing security operatives.
Last week, they hijacked two truck-full of onions from the North in Imo State and distributed their contents to the public.
Meanwhile, farmers and marketers said they have lost onions worth N2.4 billion to fire in Sokoto State.
The cause of the fire was still unknown but one of the victims, Umaru Aliyu Gidan Fadama, said that the fire started from Yan doya market otherwise known as Ramin Kura.
According to him, it started around 12:30 am on Wednesday.
“We were told that it started from a Golf vehicle that was offloading yams at the market and later spread to other places including where our storage facilities are.
“I personally lost 60 bags of onion and I know some that have lost more than 100 bags,” he said.
The National President of OPMAN told newsmen that 200,000 bags of onion worth N2 billion were lost to the fire.
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