Osun discount food scheme collapses as warehouse looted, operators flee

A discounted foodstuff business in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, has ended in chaos after its operators locked up their warehouse and vanished, leading frustrated buyers to break in and cart away goods.

Footage circulating on Tuesday showed people making off with sacks of rice, containers of groundnut oil and other provisions from the storage facility of Global Food Initiative, the company at the heart of the dispute.

A group that had massed outside the warehouse for several hours abruptly forced its way inside, seizing the food items.

The break-in occurred one day after hundreds of buyers besieged the premises, demanding either the goods they had already paid for or a return of their money.

Customers had made upfront payments for discounted food items from the operators, who are said to have sealed off the premises and gone incommunicado.

Launched roughly three weeks ago, the scheme offered a 50-kilogramme bag of rice at ₦27,000, a 25-litre jerrycan of vegetable oil at ₦30,000 and a bundle of spaghetti at ₦10,000.

Buyers were told to pay in advance and come back after seven days to pick up their purchases.

Some buyers are reported to have parted with hundreds of thousands of naira. One woman recounted paying ₦300,000 for 11 bags of rice, while another said she handed over ₦1.2 million for food items meant for her stepdaughter’s wedding.

The operators have stayed out of reach, and neither the number of affected customers nor the total sum collected could be verified independently.

The Osun State Police Command had confirmed sending officers to the area to forestall a breakdown of law and order.

Abiodun Ojelabi, spokesperson for the command, said the police only learned of the situation when they arrived at the scene, and that no formal complaint had been lodged at that point.

“We are monitoring the situation to avoid crisis,” he said.

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