Tension gripped Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Monday after operators of a cheap food scheme known as Global Food Initiative reportedly disappeared, leaving residents who had paid various amounts for discounted food items worried about their money. Several customers were seen around the organisation’s office in Odi-Olowo, Osogbo, waiting……
Tension gripped Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Monday after operators of a cheap food scheme known as Global Food Initiative reportedly disappeared, leaving residents who had paid various amounts for discounted food items worried about their money.
Several customers were seen around the organisation’s office in Odi-Olowo, Osogbo, waiting for the operators to open the premises as they sought clarification over the situation and the fate of their deposits.
According to Punch, a resident identified simply as Mistura said she paid N300,000 into the scheme last Wednesday to purchase 11 bags of rice at N27,000 per bag.
The development has left several other residents who had also made payments for cheaper food items anxious, with uncertainty surrounding the whereabouts of the scheme’s operators.
Affected residents gathered around the organisation’s office in anticipation of getting access to the food items they had paid for or receiving an explanation from the operators.
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Mistura further said the maturity date for the collection of the items was usually one week after payment, adding that the 11 bags would have cost her N605,000 at the current market price of N55,000 per bag.
Another investor, Olamide, who said she paid N1.2m for various food items to be used for the upcoming wedding ceremony of her stepdaughter, explained that she made the payment through a designated account, number 5287459667, bearing the name Global Food Initiative and domiciled in an online microfinance bank, last Monday.
“I got here this morning and met a crowd waiting to be attended to. But the operators were nowhere to be found. I was warned, but I never thought they would run away this early. The items I paid for were to be used for the wedding ceremony of my stepdaughter.
“Before I paid the last sum of N1.2m into the scheme last Monday, I had earlier collected two gallons of five litres of groundnut oil from the operators. I paid N30,000 for each. But it costs far more in the market. I am in a serious mess here,” she said.