The Chairman, Association of Table Water Producers (ATWAP), Benue Chapter, Mr Terna Gile has blamed the hike in price of table water to the increase in cost of production.
Gile disclosed this while speaking with newsmen on Thursday in Makurdi.
The chairman explained that Benue was not the only State that was affected but all the state in the country.
“There was a need to sensitisation the people in order to understand why the price of such a necessary product has gone up to N200 from N120 and some N150.
“The decision to increase the price of the commodity was as a result of the discussion we had at our national conference in Abuja on the October 26.
“We did our cost analysis for production and arrived at N200 per bag,” he said.
He said that what they use was food grade which was approved by NAFDAC.
“But it has risen from N600,000 to N1.550 million and the packing bag which we pack the pure water inside has risen from N350 before Covid-19 to N3,500 and as at today, depending on the quality, is now between N11,000 to N12,000.
He explained further that polyethylene was a petroleum bye product and the only company in Nigeria that supplied it to us was Eleme Petrochemicals.
He said that the company do produce only 35 to 40 per cent of their local consumption and the other 60 per centre had to be imported.
“So technically our products are also affected by foreign exchange fluctuations and they are also affected by the price of crude oil.
“The most important aspect is that we ensure our people use food grade nylon because if you are not using food grade, you are breeding a society of cancer patients.
He lamented that many other states had cases of cholera, stressing that the case was different in Benue because producers in the state maintained approved quality standards.
He assured that with the increase, the people will get the best assuring that any company found cutting corners at the expense of the general public will be sanctioned.
