The Nigerian Tomato Crate Dealers Association has threatened to stop supplying tomatoes to Lagos State because of the purported destruction of its products.
Alhaji Ahmed Alaramma, the association’s national chairman, made this announcement on Sunday at a news conference in Zaria.
The conflict at the Ile-Epo Market in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos state, which started on May 1, according to Alaramma, the National Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria, ruined their investment in more than 60,000 empty tomato crates.
He continued by saying that plastic crates were introduced since the raffia basket, which was originally used to transport tomatoes to the south, ended up causing more damage to the tomatoes.
“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 they prevented our people from quenching the fire.
“We have audio-visual and other proof supporting our claims,” the chairman said.
He said that since each empty crates costs N6,000, the members’ investment lost more than N360 million.
To lessen the impact of the damage, he did, however, call on the Federal Government, the Lagos State Government, and other pertinent parties to investigate the matter and compensate the association.
Alaramma stated that in the event that the government responded negatively, the association had already communicated with its legal counsel about its options for legal remedies.
“If nothing is done, we will have no option than to cut the supply of tomatoes to Lagos over this incident,” he said.
On Wednesday night, a section of Ile-Epo Market caught fire due to a brawl between hoodlums, resulting in numerous injuries and the destruction of some merchandise.
The Nigerian Police Force detained 50 people in connection with the altercation after the clash.
