Beans sellers deny existence of poisonous beans

Beans sellers in some major markets in Lagos have refuted the allegation, that they are using, an insecticide, called sniper, to preserve their commodity with Sniper.

Recall that the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service has expressed fear over the use of sniper in the preservation of beans, noting that the sniper beans issue arose at a time when NAQS was close to achieving the lifting of European Union ban on Nigerian beans.

The Coordinating Director of NAQS, Dr Vincent Isegbe said, “The substance in question (sniper) is an organophosphate called 2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate which is dangerous to health if misapplied as a pesticide.

However, beans sellers who spoke with National Daily at the popular Oke Odo market denied using such a deadly chemical to preserve their beans.

One of the traders, Malam Adamu Bello, said the allegations were lies, aimed at ruining the traders’ business.

“One of my customers told me he heard some news on radio about the use of sniper as preservatives in beans but it is not true.This is not true; they spread this news to ruin our trade.

“The Malams’ pushing wheelbarrow sell at a cheaper rate than those who own shops. Those in the shops sell costlier but those who hawk with wheelbarrows sell lesser.

“They do it to ruin the hawkers’ sale but I insist the news is not true. I can chew our beans raw without fear because there is nothing inside.

“It is a lie; such preservatives are not used in our beans.

On his part, Mr Isaac Ifeanyi said some customers are sceptical about purchasing beans but the integrity of the sellers overtime have kept them coming.

“We have gotten a lot of complaints about the sniper stuff. Actually, it has not really affected sales because we preserve our own (beans) very well. We just make sure we assure them that everything is ok,’’ Ifeanyi said.