Date: 2017-05-30

Residents of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, have continued to lament the increase in the price of sachet water, popularly called pure water, The Point's findings have revealed.

A cross section of residents, who spoke with our correspondent, decried the "indiscriminate" hike in the cost of the product from N140 to N200 per bag. According to them, it was unfair for the producers of sachet water to increase prices of the commodity indiscriminately.

A civil servant, Mr. Sulaiman Alao, said, "Pure water is a product most people in the state have come to rely on as the source of potable water."

He noted that the price of the product had been increased incessantly in the past few months to the detriment of consumers.

"A sachet of water, before now, was sold for N5, but suddenly increased to two for N15 and now it goes for N10 per sachet. Some retailers are even selling the product at N15 per sachet. "A bag of sachet water was sold for N140, but now it costs N180 and even N200 per bag in some areas within the metropolis" he added.

Another consumer, who simply identified himself as Emmanuel, said that the producers were insensitive to the plight of the ordinary people.

"If we say the economic situation is bad, we should not make life harder for ourselves. The situation is unimaginable and no one is telling us why," he said.

However, reacting to the development, the Assistant General Manager of Heritage Water, Mr. Femi Adebayo, blamed the hike in the price of sachet water on epileptic power supply and increase in the cost of production.

"We have been producing at little or no profit. In actual fact, we at Heritage cannot compromise our standard of production. "There is increase in cost of materials-the filters, the diesel to power our machines do not come cheap.

So, we are forced to keep producing to stay in the market. "The increase from our company is only a difference of N10. We sold at N120 before now and we have been mandated to sell at N130. So, you see we are still running at a loss."