By Pascal Ibe
An X user, A.Ayofe has claimed in his now deleted post on Sunday that Sachet Water (Pure Water) is being sold at #150/200 in northern Nigeria but #500 in the southern part of the country.
In his now deleted post, A.Ayofe wrote, “In North Pure Water is 150-200 but in South 500, Greed and Wickedness”
The post had over 152k view before it was deleted on Monday.
However, on Monday morning, Instablog9ja shared a screenshot of the post on X and asked “How accurate is this?”
This post shared on by Instablog9ja on Monday gained over 1.2 million views.
HIGH PRICE
Five days ago, the Association of Table Waters Producers of Nigeria announced that sachet water popularly called pure water could be sold for N100 each, citing high production material costs.
Members of the association lamented that they face challenges such as the high cost of diesel, lack of power as well as high cost of production, emphasising that the price of water sales reflects the situation of the country.
The manufacturers disclosed at a press conference on the rising production cost of packaging materials and its effect in Nigeria, which was held in Lagos.
They asserted that for producers to bring quality water to the doorsteps of consumers, they had to pay more.
The association’s President, Clementina Ativie, said, “Pure water is sold for N50 now, and it is even going up to N100 per one. At our own end, there’s nothing we can do. The cost of production is high.
“As of last year December, we were buying materials (nylon) for N1,100 per kg. The 6kg of nylon is now N3,600/N3,700. The cost of treatment is also high. The increase in prices of these materials comes at three times in one week. It is also difficult for us to increase the price of water.
“If ordinary Nigerians can’t afford pure water, I don’t know where we are going. Every water producer is funding the pure water factory from personal pockets or borrowed money.
A feature by Vanguard last Monday revealed that some Nigerians have dumped bottled water, which now costs N300 per bottle in some cities; they now improvise by carrying sachet water in used bottles.
Some have resorted to boiling borehole water and sieving it into empty used bottles after it cools off.
This has reduced patronage and, subsequently, dropping the income of beverage hawkers.
SACHET WATER PROCES VARY FROM STATES TO STATES
In order to verify this claim by the X User, when reached out to a Punch journalist, Daniel Adaji said a bag of sachet water is being sold for #500 in retail stores, #700 in supermarkets and big stores in the FCT. While a sachet is #50.
Also in Anambra, it was gathered that a bag of sachet water is sold at #300. While in Plateau State, an NYSC coper, Eze Jude stated that it’s at #350.
CrimeFacts news reporter made findings on this in about 10 States across Nigeria.
Prices of bag of sachet water in Nigerian States bellow 👇
•FCT, Abuja —#500
•Anambra —#300
• Plateau —#350
• Imo — #400
• Lagos —#350
• Delta —#400
•Akwa Ibom —#400
• Rivers —#350
•Bayelsa —#350/400
•Enugu —#400
VERDICT:
The claim by A.Ayofe that a bag of sachet water sells at #150/200 in the north and #500 in the south is FALSE.
