Due to increased manufacturing costs, the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN) has stated that its members will begin a statewide strike on February 27.
The strike warning was sent by the association’s national president, Alhaji Mansur Umar, and national secretary, Mr. Jude Okafor, according to Chief Adeniyi Bamidele Gabriel, the chairman of the AMBCN for Kogi State. Chief Gabriel made the statement on Tuesday, February 13.
Its members are now closing their stores “due to the multifarious increase in the prices of baking materials such as flour, sugar, yeast, vegetable oil, petrol, diesel occasioned by subsidy removal and forex deregulation, multiple taxation via federal government agencies,” according to Gabriel, who said that’s why the strike decision was necessary.
They are accusing state and local governments of enacting “fees and levies such as emblems, assessment levies, touting, etc. and the general hike on ease of doing business in Nigeria” in addition to the federal government of imposing multiple taxation burdens through organizations like NAFDAC, SON, NESREA, Consumer Protection Council, and Department of Weight and Measures, among others. They claimed that as a result, the organization now operates in a challenging business environment.
Some of their demands include;
“Reduction or elimination of import taxes on primary baking ingredients, as well as the liberalization of the import of wheat and sugar.
Reducing tariffs on imported wheat and sugar, as well as offering flour millers and other stakeholders concessionary foreign exchange.
Nigerian wheat and sugar cane are being grown and processed, and different taxes levied by the federal, state, and local governments are being eliminated.
“At this time, all federal, state, and local government taxes on the baking industry are suspended,
“And establish a price control and monitoring committee in accordance with the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s amended constitution, along with other measures that will facilitate business operations in the nation.”
