By Femi Akinola
The cost of sachet water popularly referred to ”pure water” and bottled water has gone up threefold across metropolitan Lagos now selling at for N30 from N10 previous price while a bottled water is sold for N150 from its previous N100 price.
NatureNews monitor of the increase in the cost of packaged water in Lagos shows that a pack of bottled water sold for N600 less than a year ago now sell for between N900 and N1,000 depending on the brand while a pack of sachet water sold for N200 before now sell for N300, depending on particular area of the city.
The sharp increase in the price of packaged water in Lagos takes place when residents of the city are grappling with unpalatable effect of increased inflationary pressure from all fronts, with cost of food items consistently moving up, transportation cost also skyrocketted on the back of increased price of fuel at petrol filling stations.
Explaining the rationale behind the rise in price of sachet water, a manager of a ”pure water” producer in Agege, Tunde Gbadamosi, noted that association of sachet water producer met and took decision to increase price to reflect changes in the cost of production materials particularly the cost of diesel with which they run their production machines.
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He lamented high cost of production of sachet water adding, ”the cost of materials used in producing sachet water has gone up and it affects our ability to pay our workers not to talk of making profits.”
Speaking along the same line with Gbadamosi, Mr. Nurudeen Babalola, a ”pure water” distributor in Surulere, Lagos, explained that the price increase started as a result of increase in price of virtually all what one could think of in the city ranging from foodstuffs to transportation within Lagos including increase in the price of petrol. ”All these and many other contributed to hike of ordinary packaged water beyond 100% rise in price,” he said.
NatureNews recall that Water Producers Association of Nigeria (WAPAN), in September 2021, announced that the price of sachet water could rise from N10 to N50 per sachet if the Federal Government implements the proposed Excise Duty of carbonated beverages.
WAPAN’s statement followed the move of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance to amend the Finance Act to include levies on all carbonated and non-carbonated drinks.
In the mean time, Lagosians have had to reluctantly accept the increase in price of sahet and bottled water considering both as the cheapest and one that could kill their thirst effectively as against carbonated drinks with their multiple health implication.
Several households still depend on sachet and bottled water as main source of their drinkable water to avoid drinking water from boreholes that may likely have been contaminated.
