On Friday, hundreds of local bread bakers, known as ‘Gurasa’ in Hausa, staged a protest in Kano State against the increasing price of flour.

The protesters, mostly women, notably Gurasa bakers, (a local delicacy) staged the protest at Chediyar Yangurasa, in the Dala Local Government Area of the state.

The protesters wielded placards with various inscriptions written in both Hausa and English that included, “High costs of flour are our business”, “High flour prices unacceptable “, and “Flour price is too high in Nigeria; we need help,” among others.

Speaking to journalists during the protest, the chairperson of the Kano State Gurasa Bakers Association, Fatima Auwal, said more than half of the bakers have been sent out of business as a result of soaring prices of flour.

According to her, they had been protesting against the rising price of the commodity since when it reached N16,000 per bag but now, it is N43,000 per 50kg bag.

Though, all flour mills have increased prices,  Auwal particularly mentioned IRS as the product they solely use to make Gurasa, calling on manufacturing company, BUA, to consider their plights to make the price affordable.

She said, “We are out here on the streets protesting to let the leaders know the situation we have found ourselves in at the moment.

“This has been our business for long but it is facing a great threat due to the rise in the price of flour.

“More than half of us have been sent out of business as we cannot afford to buy flour at this high price.

“Many have lost their capital. Only 25 percent of us are now in the business as many others have closed down due to lack of capital.”

Efforts to contact the management of BUA company in Kano failed as its major dealers could not be reached as of the time of filing this story.