‘Solve Challenges Of Fruit Wastage’

Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Transport, Commerce and Industry, Bisi Yusuf, has raised concerns over the rate at which fruit is allowed to rot away in the state.

He called on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to find a solution to this challenge, especially in the markets.

Yusuf, whose committee visited the Ministry of Commerce as part of its oversight function, said a lot fruits go to waste on a daily basis in various markets due to lack of comprehensive preservation of the farm products in the state.

“There is no serious preservation culture in our society especially in Lagos State; that is why many farm products rot and waste in our markets,” he said.

The lawmaker charged the ministry to work towards creating a befitting preservation measure for the market traders who deal in seasonal farm products.

He added that markets in Ketu, Agege and Mushin were daily littered with heaps of wasted fruits and farm products.

The lawmaker also lamented the rate at which Nigerians were being treated in most of the factories in the state, especially those owned by expatriates. He tasked the ministry to find immediate solution to this so that Nigerians are not enslaved again.

In her response, the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Olusola Oworu, said that the greatest challenge facing the ministry is that it had acquired some hectares of land in Lekki Free Zone but the activities of the land speculators is still keeping them away from the land.

The Commissioner also stated that there were regular interface with some communities so that factories and companies meet up with the challenges of engaging youths in the community.

She said the limited resources and power supply to work with served as stumbling blocks to the development of small scale businesses in the state.

“We are working with public and private sectors to enable us have the opportunity to tackle some challenges facing the entrepreneurs and local traders in the state,” she said.