All is now set by the Cross River State Government to monitor the price/ sales of consumer products so as to prevent consumers from unnecessarily being exploited by middlemen taking undue advantage of the present circumstance.

This is sequel to out cry by consumers resident in the state that they are being exploited by middlemen right from the moment when residents of the state began to observe government order of ‘stay at home’.

Director General DG, Cross River State Consumer Protection /Control Agency, CPC, Prince Charles Ushie disclosed this yesterday while fielding questions from journalists shortly after stepping out from stakeholders meeting which he held with heads of trader unions in Calabar.

As part of measures to curb the traders excesses, Ushie said a taskforce on price monitoring, comprising of representatives of trade unions, peace corps and the civil defence will be inaugurated.

On why the agency is set up,Ushie stated that the agency is set up to trace the reasons behind hike in prices of food stuffs, which includes garri, Rice and palm oil which prices were not supposed to go haywire because there are being produced in the state stressing that it was satanic for any one to exploit consumers in a critical times like this when families are battling to survive with the meagre resources at their disposal.

The DG advocates for used of nose masks, frequent hand washing with soap and running water, social distancing and maintainace of personal hygiene so as not to be infected with the corona virus disease which has claimed many lives in the last 2months.

The DG maintained that foodstuffs are not part of the Covid -19 lockdown as His Excellency, the Digital Governor of Cross River State, Sen Prof Ben Ayade in his directives exempted consumables and those on essential services. Prince Ushie frowned that for the prices of commodities like Garri, Rice, Palm Oil and medicines to rise is very unfortunate. He call for urgent attention to be given to issues related to the tackling of hunger/ starvation so that hunger doesn’t take over from the Covid- 19 virus as 8 cups of Garri that use to go for N200 is now 4 Cups within a space of 2 weeks.(Leadership)