Over the past few weeks in Nigeria, the price of commercially packaged water i.e sachet water and bottled water, has been insanely high, causing a lot of dissatisfied outbursts from Nigerians, both rich and poor.
According to consumers, a bag of pure water is now sold at the price range of N400 to N500 as opposed to the usual N150 to N200 price range that it was sold at.
In reaction to this pressing national issue, Association of Table Water Producers of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to see to the rectification of this situation as the lack of safely packed sachet water in the country can lead to water borne disease among others.
This was raised by ATWAP was made known on Tuesday during a press briefing when the president of the organization, Mrs Clementina Ativie stated their concerns and pleas to the government.
She said, “We have been trying our best to make sure that pure water gets to the doorstep of every Nigerian. But the truth now is for how long can we continue to subsidise the price at which pure water is supposed to be sold?
“The price of petroleum products is being subsidised by the government. But when it comes to the price of water, we are the ones that bear the loss at all times and that is the fear and pain that we have now.
“The masses should show understanding with us and then the government should also look into pure water production because water is the most important aspect of human life and existence that we should not ignore.
“I don’t see how a sachet of pure water should be sold for N50 and it’s even going up to N100 if care is not taken.”
She continued saying, “For how long are we going to be subsidising the price? But the truth of the matter is that pure water is going for N100 a sachet because of the high cost of production.
“How many Nigerians can afford this price? The government should look into it. The government should not allow Nigerians to buy a sachet of pure water for N100. It should be sold for N20. We are currently buying a litre of diesel for N1,700.
“We don’t need to allow sachet water to leave the system. If you allow people to start tying water in nylon as we experienced in the past before the emergency of sachet water, there would be massive outbreaks of waterborne diseases”
She also lamented about the effects the high cost of production has had on them as producers saying “We understand the importance of maintaining a steady and reasonable pricing for our products. We equally understand that the market is ever-changing, and that adjustment may be inevitable at a time.”
“However, the inconsistency in price, increase of our packaging materials, and the frequency it occurs, especially by nylon manufacturers have caused us great economic strain.
“As you all know, nylon is the only packaging material for sachet water, definitely we have no choice but to use these materials at whatever cost being presented by nylon producers. As a result of this, we have been struggling to survive.”
In addition she bemoaned about the various levies placed on sachet water producers in the country despite the state of the nation, “Our greatest worry is that no government or its agencies have ever remembered us for any sort of palliatives nor financial consideration and support to enhance our business since the government alone can’t shoulder the responsibility of providing potable water for her large population.
“Instead we are faced with multiple taxation and extortion, overlapping functions of different regulatory agencies, thus, turning us into cash cows.
“As of today, we can confidently count as many as 16 government agencies from federal, state, and local government imposing one levy or the other on water producers who are largely small-scale enterprises that produce sachet water.
“We have so many criminals parading water factories, claiming to be working under regulatory agencies and extorting unsuspecting members.”