Date: 2017-02-24

Consumers of sachet water commonly in Ilorin, Kwara, have decried the sudden increase in the price of the commodity.

The consumers expressed their views in separate interviews on Thursday.

According to them, it is not fair for producers of sachet water to increase prices of the commodity indiscriminately.

Mr Bayo Aina, a transporter said, "This pure water is what we buy on a daily basis while travelling to any state, it is the cheapest way to quench thirst.

"A sachet of water before now was sold for N5, but suddenly increased to two for N15, it was changed to N10 per sachet, but unfortunately, it has increased to N15 per sachet.

"Maybe it is the producers or the hawkers that increased the price indiscriminately and without any explanation, we do not understand what is happening anymore," he said.

Another consumer, who preferred to be known as Emmanuel said, "I got to one of the factories this morning only to be told that a bag of sachet water has increased from N100 to N130, this is unimaginable.

"If we say the economic situation is bad, we should not make life harder for ourselves, the situation is unimaginable and no one is telling us why.

"Besides the increase, I have come to notice that there many illegal water making industries in Ilorin with different labels and brand names.

"I think this is the responsibility of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), to check the development, I have seen the effect of the activities of the organisation, but it needs to do more. "Some industries need to be locked because I do not think they have the certificate to operate, even vehicles they use to distribute sachet water sometimes break down, thereby causing unnecessary gridlocks,"he said.

He said in spite the lapses among sachet water producers in the area in the distribution of the commodity, the producers went ahead to increase the prices of the commodity. He urged the appropriate authorities to look into the issue, adding that the development was not in the best interest of the consumers.

However, some officials of water producing industries in Ilorin, in their reactions, said the decision to increase the price was due to the economic situation in the country.

Mr Femi Adebayo, the Assistant General Manager of Heritage Water, blamed the hike in the price of sachet water on the lack of inadequate power supply and subsequent increase in the cost of production. "We have been producing at little or no profit, in actual fact, we at Heritage cannot compromise our standard of production.

"There is an increase in the cost of materials, the filters, the diesel to power our machines do not come cheap, so we are forced to keep producing to stay in the market.

"The increase from our company is only a difference of N10, we sold at N120 before now and we have been mandated to sell at N130, so you see we are still running at a loss.

"Our consumers should please understand that this is not our fault, it is because we want to maintain our standard of producing clean water," he said. The Manager of Oluseyi Water, Mr Oluwatosin Opeyemi, said, "Apart from the increased cost of production, maintenance fees have also increased.

"For example, the cost of fuelling our distribution vans and buying spare parts have also gone up. "So, it is a unanimous decision by all water producing companies in the state to sell at N130 per bag of sachet water," he said.