Bread is a staple food for many in Northern Nigeria, serving as a primary breakfast choice across diverse ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups. With bakeries operating in nearly every state, the industry is vital to both regional and national economy.

According to Statista.com (a global data and business intelligence platform), Nigeria’s bread market is projected to generate $18.81 billion in revenue by 2025, with an annual growth rate of 11.04% (CAGR 2025-2030), revenue surged by 14.3% compared to 2023.

In recent years, the price of flour, bread’s key ingredient skyrocketed, reaching over NGN 80,000 per bag in markets across Kano and other northern states. This forced bakeries to raise prices to cover production costs. However, flour prices have since dropped significantly.

Despite this, bread prices remain stubbornly high, sparking concerns among Kano residents.

Investigating the issue, DAILY POST conducted a market survey at Singa Market, a major food distribution hub in Kano and Northern Nigeria.

Flour prices have dropped, but bread prices haven’t

In an interview, a flour distributor in Kano, Usaini Rabiu confirmed the price drop. “Since mid-2024, flour prices have fallen significantly. We now sell a bag for NGN 55,000 to NGN 56,000. There is ample supply, and all major companies are producing. We urge retailers to pass these reductions on to consumers.”

A price check in various stores within the market confirmed this claim. Following this, we visited a well-known bakery in Kano to understand why bread prices had not adjusted accordingly.

A bakery manager, speaking anonymously, insisted that their prices had already been reduced.

“A loaf that previously sold for NGN 1,300 now costs NGN 900, while the NGN 1,000 loaf is now NGN 700. We adjusted our prices as soon as flour costs dropped. However, I’m shocked to see bread being sold at inflated prices elsewhere.”

Middlemen under fire

The manager blamed middlemen for the price inconsistencies, saying “We sell a loaf to distributors for NGN 900, yet I see the same loaf selling for NGN 1,400 in retail shops. When I investigated, I found out that distributors sell to retailers for NGN 1,200, making a profit of NGN 300 per loaf—more than what we, the producers, make!”

A tea and bread vendor, Kamalu Ishaq, echoed this frustration. He lamented that despite flour prices dropping, bread prices have not followed suit.

“There has been no real price relief since flour costs spiked nearly two years ago. If we make any profit on bread, it’s barely NGN 100 per loaf. A NGN 1,000 loaf is sold to us at NGN 900 by distributors. When we complain, they just tell us to be patient, even though we can clearly see that flour prices have dropped.”

The blame game continues

The consistently high retail prices suggest that middlemen and distribution chains play a significant role in keeping bread costs elevated.

However, Abubakar Garba Indabawa, a bread distributor with years of experience, refuted this claim.

“Nowadays, bakeries require full payment upfront. Unlike before, when we could take bread on credit and pay after selling, we now buy at our own risk. The profit margin is minimal -usually no more than NGN 100 per loaf. For every NGN 10,000 worth of bread, distributors make NGN 1,000 in profit. In some cases, we don’t even earn that much.”

What’s the solution?

As this blame game continues, consumers—especially low-income earners bear the brunt. It remains unclear who is truly responsible for the price discrepancy.

Amid growing frustrations, there is a rising call for regulatory measures to ensure that reductions in essential commodity prices, such as flour, translate into lower costs for bread and other bakery products.

[DailyPost]

In a first major global seizure of its kind in 2025, the Murtala Mohammed Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted 3,765kg pangolin scales in the Lekki area of Lagos.

Speaking to journalists, the Customs Area Controller, MMA command, Micheal Awe, said the operation, which was with the support of the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC), led to the arrest of five suspects involved in the illegal wildlife trade.

According to the Customs boss, the 3,765kg pangolin scale seizures mark the first major global seizure of its kind in 2025.

He argued that the seizure highlighted both the persistent threat to pangolin species and the heightened vigilance of the NCS in dismantling these criminal networks.

He also disclosed that the current seizure raised the total amount of pangolin scales seized through the joint efforts of the NCS and WJC to over 25 tons since the start of the collaboration in 2021.

“On the 2nd of April 2025, the NCS MMA Command under the leadership of Comptroller Micheal AWE, with the support of the WJC, conducted 2 major operations that resulted in the arrest of five suspects and the seizure of 3,765kg of pangolin scales in the Lekki area of Lagos.

“NCS has been continuing investigations into organized criminal networks trafficking in endangered wildlife and exporting wildlife products to Asia.

This operation followed a recent bust of a major trafficking network in Nigeria that resulted in the arrest of a Chinese national Zheng Chao Hong, also known as Zheng Gao Peng, in February 2025 by the joint efforts of the Customs Police Unit and WJC.

“This seizure of 3,765kg of pangolin scales marks the first major global seizure of its kind in 2025, highlighting both the persistent threat to pangolin species and the heightened vigilance of the NCS in dismantling these criminal networks. Additionally, it raises the total amount of pangolin scales seized through the joint efforts of the NCS and WJC to over 25 tons since the start of the collaboration in 2021.”

Additionally, the Customs boss expressed his appreciation for the partnership with WJC, saying the service will not relent in its efforts in fighting wildlife crime to a standstill.

He stated that the service won’t tolerate wildlife trafficking anywhere either through the Airports, Seaports, Land borders or even within the community.

“Comptroller Awe reaffirmed the commitment of the Comptroller General of Customs Bashir Adeniyi and the management team as he continues to encourage and give maximum support in facilitating legitimate trade whilst sending a strong signal that the service will equally not relent in its efforts in fighting wildlife crime to a standstill.

“We won’t tolerate it anywhere, not through our Airports, Seaports, Land borders or even within the community. Investigations are ongoing, and NCS does not rule out making further arrests.”

The High Court of South Africa, Eastern Cape Division, Gqeberha, has sentenced Lindile Hini (44) to life imprisonment for the rape of a 70-year-old woman, three years for housebreaking with intent to commit rape, and two years for contravening the Older Persons Act. These offences took place on the eve of 29 October 2023 in Kwazakhele, Gqeberha.

The pensioner was at her home in Kwazakhele, sleeping with the lights on, and had left the back door unlocked for her son. Hini, her next-door neighbour since 1984, entered the house through the back door, undressed, and told her he had been waiting for “the opportunity” for some time. He then forcibly removed her pants and sexually assaulted her.

After the assault, Hini requested a bucket of water, washed his genitalia, got dressed, and left. The complainant later contacted a friend, informing her that her neighbour had raped her. The following day, she told her son about the assault, and they called the police. Hini was arrested at his residence on 02 November 2023. The complainant was taken to the Thuthuzela Care Centre, where she received medical attention and counselling to address both her physical and emotional well-being.

Senior State Advocate Ansiot Kimfley argued for an appropriate sentence, stating the assault was premeditated, as Hini admitted to lusting after the complainant for some time. Kimfley emphasised the brutality of the attack, highlighting Hini’s calculated entry into the complainant’s home and his disregard for her safety. In his defence, Hini claimed the elderly woman had seduced him while drunk. This claim was rejected by the court, as it was clear the complainant, a vulnerable woman in her seventies, had been subjected to a violent, non-consensual assault.

In a Victim Impact Statement, compiled by Court Preparation Officer Ayanda Heugh, the complainant expressed suicidal thoughts and fear. She ultimately decided to sell her home, fearing Hini might not receive a prison sentence and that she would continue to live in fear.

Hini, a first-time offender, was convicted on 16 January 2025 and has been incarcerated since his arrest. His sentences will run concurrently with the life sentence. It was also ordered that Hini may not possess a firearm, and his name will be entered into the sex offenders register.

Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Barry Madolo, welcomed the sentence, emphasising that it sends a strong message regarding the seriousness with which such crimes are treated by the court.

•Kidnappers fed a newborn baby to their dogs in the presence of the kidnapped mother

WHAT occurred at Uromi, headquarters of Esan North East Local Government Area in Edo State on Thursday, March 27, could have befallen any other community in the heartbeat of the nation, given the prevailing circumstances, tension, and anger over the hair-raising operations of suspected herders in combination with abductors.

More than 24 other communities in Edo Central, Edo North, and Edo South senatorial districts have been sacked and under siege by criminally-minded herders from northern Nigeria.

The same could also have arisen in over 30 communities in Delta and Bayelsa States, where the residents, especially farmers, are terrified to go to farms because of some brazen Fulani herders who invade their farms, uproot crops they planted and feed their cows, rape women, and take the villagers hostage for ransom.

A few months ago, bewildered women stormed the palace of the Onojie of Uromi to vent their anger at the rising cases of kidnappings and killings.

The situation became so frightening in January that the Onojie of Uzea, Esan North East local government area, HRH Solomon Itoya Iluobe, declared that he did not want to see any Hausa/Fulani in their forests because of their atrocities.

”Our women go to their farms, they rape them, and at times they even set them ablaze. I have paid ransom three times to Fulani herdsmen; they kidnapped my elder sister, and they have also kidnapped two people from this place. Even last month, I paid a ransom.

“To even sleep in this place is by the grace of God Almighty. To access this road, you need security, which is a problem.

“I, as Onojie of Uzea, no longer want Fulani in my forests. They will kidnap us, keep us in our land, and we will pay a ransom. We are tired. I do not have a hand in Fulani, and anybody who has a hand in their staying in our forests should tell them to leave Uzea. We need security here so that one day we will not wake up and discover that we only have two people remaining in the Uzea Kingdom.”

Some weeks ago in Bayelsa State, where the deputy governor confirmed that several local governments were under siege by herders, mothers protested the destruction of their farmlands and rape by the prowling cattlemen.

In Delta, Edo, and Bayelsa States, the situation is as if herders plotted and intensified their operations in the first three months of this year to make life unbearable for the people, who have cried hoarse about their nightmares with the federal and state governments doing little to protect the citizens.

We are hunters, not terrorists — Survivors

However, last week’s incident in Uromi was ill-fated. A raging mob roasted alive 16 out of 27 persons of Hausa origin who identified themselves as hunters and were traveling from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to the northern part of the country for the Salah celebration on the supposition that they were kidnappers after finding a cache of arms and ammunition with them.

Some people argued that it was a transferred hostility. Two survivors of the Uromi attack who narrated their near-death experience said they were hunters from Kano State.

They said the rifles recovered by the vigilante group were hunting rifles, claiming they had licenses; however, the vigilante cluster accused them of being terrorists and lynched 16 of them, while five others escaped.

Concerned citizens have also pointed out that the people lynched were Hausa indigenes and not Fulani herders, who the Uromi people claimed were attacking farmers and kidnapping villagers for ransom. Eyewitnesses said more than 20 persons were in the trailer, but some Uromi indigenes helped some of them to escape lynching.

The whereabouts of arms, ammunition, and cash allegedly found are unknown

There is a controversy over the whereabouts of the arms and ammunition found with the victims, but what they saw with them were Dane guns.

A villager said the guns were with the police, but the police public relations officer said everything that has to do with the case has been transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID).
The whereabouts of the supposed cash found in the trailer remain unknown.

Ubiaja indigene sighted victims transferring weapons into a waiting trailer – Ben

Some locals who disputed the claim of the Hausa victims said some kidnappers also have dogs with them in their hideouts in the forests, but the way the victims behaved created room for suspicion from the point they were sighted loading their consignments into a waiting truck, along the road between Onicha-Ugbo in Delta State and Ubiaja in Edo State.

A non-indigene who lives in Uromi, Ben (surname withheld), gave a peek into what happened. His words: “I condemn the act of jungle justice, which is not in line with our constitutional provision of how offenders of any form of crime can be tried.”

“However, those persons are presumed to be kidnappers because information available showed that if you are passing through here to the east, you will move from Uromi to Ubiaja, Ewato, and Ewohinmi, down to Onicha-Ugbo, and there is a forest and a river.

“That place has been a flashpoint; they (herders and kidnappers) have laid siege on that part of the road for the past months, and it was at that spot that an indigene of Ubiaja moving towards Ubiaja from the Onicha-Ugbo axis saw these men carrying their arms from one person to another and into the trailer with Dangote inscribed on it.

“He quickly drove to town and alerted the vigilante men at Ubiaja, who waited for the truck. On getting to Ubiaja, the trailer did not stop for the vigilante, so the vigilante at Ubiaja sent a distress call to those in Uromi, and they mounted surveillance.

“The vigilantes in Uromi were able to use a tipper with a full trip of sand to stop the trailer, and at the point of questioning them, one of them stabbed the vigilante with a dagger, which was how the thing escalated. It is regrettable the way they were handled, but they caused the provocation, and their movement was suspicious.”

What gave them away— Prince Olumese, native

Corroborating the claim, Prince Eugene Olumese said the victims could have also camouflaged as hunters because “there are hunters that carry dogs and Dane guns.”

“From the environment I grew up in, Lagos and Ogun states, we used to see hunters in the bushes, irrespective of what tribe they were; some of them even have huts in the bushes. But even at that, were these people hunters? It could be. Are they kidnappers? It still could be, but some reasons will make you say these people are likely to be kidnappers or hunters.

“They covered themselves with a tarpaulin in a truck filled with palm kernel shells, which means they did not want anybody to know that people were there. Why? Hunters should walk freely in towns; there was something spectacular, and they also had plenty of money. New currency notes—look at it, hunters with new currency notes!

“Many trucks drove through Uromi that day without anybody searching. This truck was carrying palm kernel shells. You can imagine what it took them to search and discover human beings and then guns, money, Dane guns, and dogs, so these people (vigilantes) were working on a tip-off.

“There are videos and write-ups in social media by Uromi indigenes saying these things are happening; they kidnap poor men, they kidnap our women, they rape our women, and they insert sticks into their private parts.

“Sometimes, even when ransoms were paid, they would hold the person who came to pay the ransom and release the one who was held before. These things kept happening again and again, yet nothing was done on these cries, and if anything was done, it was not to the satisfaction of the Uromi indigenes.

“Though it is not right that they took the law into their hands, something triggered the anger. You can imagine that when people are arrested in the act and taken to the appropriate authorities, especially the police, and in a few days to months, you see the same people walking freely.

“Your life is at risk, especially those who keep watch over the town, whom we call vigilantes, because these people will come after them. This was why they mobbed them to death, which is inappropriate. We are unhappy about it. But a situation that was not remedied caused it to happen.”

Why did they hide in the trailer? Okojie, native queries

Another indigene, Brown Okojie, said, “We see trucks pass through here, and you would see the boys who we call aboki standing on the top of the trucks; they hang their Dane guns on their shoulders, and you would see the dogs they carry, but these, they were hiding in the Dangote truck. why?”

A week before that incident, five kidnappers were arrested in the forest, and they were taken to the police station in Uromi, which transferred them to the state police headquarters in Benin City. But shockingly, the following Monday, the same people were released back to the community, thereby putting the lives of those who apprehended them at risk.

Okojie revealed: “A day before the incident, N25 million was paid as ransom to the herders to release a husband and his wife, but they still killed them and left their bodies along the Ubiaja Road.

“That same day, a lady went to pay N5 million to bail her sister from the herdsmen in Uromi; they collected the money, released the initial victim, and then kept her. Now, we are looking for money to release her. As we speak, people who are victims of kidnapping are still with their captors, these Fulani herdsmen.

Fulani herdsmen fed a newborn baby to their dog in the mother’s presence

“Early this year, a pregnant woman was in labor, and the husband had no choice but to carry her around midnight to the hospital. On their way to the hospital, herdsmen kidnapped them. The woman was in labor throughout that night until morning, and she gave birth to a baby boy in their presence.

“The Fulani herdsmen gave that baby boy to their dog because they move with the dogs; the woman said she watched her baby being eaten alive by the dogs. She is still living with the trauma, so you cannot just say that because those victims were with dogs, it made them hunters. After this incident, they still asked for ransom before they were released. They did that to show their level of harshness.”

He said a few days before the incident, about 12 children were going to school together in a community in Ewohi, cows emerged from the bush, the children ran, and a three-year-old child who could not run was trampled upon, killed by the cows, and nothing happened

They are not hunters — Ordia

Ordia, who has been involved in negotiating the release of a kidnapped person, said, “It is not a good experience at all. About two months ago, a very close friend of mine was kidnapped, and the members of our association had to rally round, levied ourselves, including church and family members, and raised N3 million before they released him.”

I am not particularly pleased with how the authorities and media have handled this matter, that they are hunters traveling from Port Harcourt to Obajana and Kano State, as the case may be. Port Harcourt is a riverine area, so where were they hunting? I believe that these guys were not hunters.”

Villagers identified some of them as kidnappers before the lynching

A source told Saturday Vanguard: “What provoked the mob to lynch the 16 persons was when villagers who claimed to have been abducted in the past past came to the scene, and identified some of them as those that kidnapped them.”

“Some of them also identified some items found with them as property they stole from them during their kidnap.

“If they were hunters , why were they not with dried meat and any other things that would show they were hunters? They use the weapons they carry to hunt and kill their fellow human beings, not animals.

“Is it the bags of rice that the vigilantes saw with them that were their proof of being hunters when we already knew they took off from their hideout in the thick forest between Onicha- Ugbo and Ubiaja.”’

Okpbholo’s intervention after dismantling Obaseki’s ESSN

When Governor Monday Okpebholo visited Uromi on March 28, a day after the incident, Hausa people residing in the community and some natives staged parallel protests.

Both sides almost clashed before security agents shot to disperse them, after which the governor came down from his vehicle to address them.

The women’s protest on social media, purporting that they barricaded Okpebholo’s entourage, was an old video.

The protesting women, however, said they were worried that the state government had stopped the local vigilante protecting them in Uromi, and “Now, it is operation secure yourself.”

Former governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, had set up the Edo State Security Network (ESSN), mainly vigilante members. Many of them registered with the state government with their arms.

Some were trained by the security forces at the Mobile Police Training School in Ogida Barracks, Benin City, and the government deployed them across senatorial districts, local government areas, and communities. They worked with the local vigilantes and hunters in the communities.

They also mounted roadblocks at the flashpoints around the highways and communities, and at times, jointly searched the forests with government security agencies to checkmate kidnappers and their activities.

When Governor Okpebholo assumed office, he appointed Friday Ibadin, a retired commissioner of police, and changed the name to Edo State Security Corps. Ibadin recalled the personnel and ordered them to submit their guns and appear for profiling, which is what he has been doing for the past three months. The governor suspended him soon after the Uromi incident.

The Okpebholo government took a hard stance against kidnapping by demolishing properties linked to criminal activities, including those of suspected informants and kidnappers, and has vowed to continue this crackdown until kidnapping ends in the state.

These actions were taken based on a new anti-kidnapping law in the state. According to the new law passed by the Edo State House of Assembly and signed by the governor, any house found to be used for kidnapping activities will be demolished to serve as a deterrent to others.

Under the new law, a landlord “must profile a person before giving out their house to him or her for rent.”
The government intensified its crackdown on individuals aiding kidnappers, as the state’s task force demolished several properties within the Edo Central and Edo North senatorial districts.

The measures seemed to be yielding results as collaborators were already allegedly fleeing their areas, abandoning their properties for fear of being demolished until the March 27 tragedy.

[Vanguard]