Nigerians groan as inflation, prices of foodstuffs, rent soar

Adebayo Obajemu

As inflation hit the rooftop with its domino and multiplier effect on prices of foodstuffs, basic commodities and rent, Nigerians are groaning and have begun to buckle under its excruciating weight.

Inflation rate rose from 20.77% in September 2022 to 21.09% in October 2022, in the process, it has engendered soaring food prices, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The Bureau also hinted  that food Inflation was 23.72% in October 2022, from 23.34% in September 2022. This was contained in NBS’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for October 2022 .

The CPI measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services.

“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate for October 2022 was 1.24 percent, this was 0.11 percent lower than the rate recorded in September 2022 (1.36 percent). This means that in October 2022 the general price level for the headline inflation rate (month-on-month basis) declined by 0.11 percent,” the report in part stated.

“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending October 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 17.86 percent, showing a 0.91 percent increase compared to the 16.96 percent recorded in October 2021.”

It hinged the rising inflation rate on importation cost, high energy cost, surging food prices amongst others.

“On a year-on-year basis, in October 2022, the urban inflation rate was 21.63 percent, 5.11 percent higher compared to the 16.52 percent recorded in October 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.33 percent in October 2022, this was a 0.12 percent decline compared to September 2022 (1.46%).”

Owing to this gloomy prospects, prices of foodstuffs have skyrocketed causing fears and anguish for Nigerians already humbled by insecurity and economic uncertainty, low wages.

This has already caused “psychological trauma, mental distress, high suicide rates as evidenced in the number of people who have killed themselves in the last six months”, Professor Awwal Abubakar, a psychologist and an expert in stress disorder, told Business Hallmark.

A new market survey by Business Hallmark showed prices of staples have risen over 100 per cent in at least the last five years.

Food prices have never been this high,  as the country itches towards its worst food inflation in 17 years, as stakeholders – traders, consumers and producers across sectors of the food supply chains  – have  been lamenting the implications of this new reality Nigerians have been living with in the last six months.

Dateline of the inflation beginning from mid year showed that  inflation rate surged to 20.52 per cent in August, the highest since September 2005. The figure rose from 19.64 per cent recorded in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Food inflation rose to 23.12 per cent in August 2022 on a year-on-year basis, representing a 2.82 per cent increase when compared to 20.30 per cent in August 2021.

“This rise in the food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products like potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, oil and fat,” the report said.

Business Hallmark market survey across several major markets in Lagos and reports from the different regions of the country have shown that the prices of food items increased by over 100 per cent in the last five years.

The steep surge can easily be noticed  in the price differences observed on all classes of food almost on a daily basis, causing the people already pauperized by poor governance and inconsistent, ill-thought economic policies to spend more to get food and key ingredients amidst stagnated income.

Many people spoken to by this newspaper said  the rise in the prices of key food items and ingredients is largely triggered by the instability of the exchange rate of naira, insecurity and high cost of transportation of products within and across states in the country.

Dr.  Azeez Aransiola of the department of Economics at Nasarawa State University, told Business Hallmark that “My fear is that the current hunger is going to have a decisive effects on 2023 elections, making it once more not free and fair. A lot of the hungry masses are not going to vote for their conscience but for a candidate who can give them rice and less than five dollars, no matter how vile a politician.”

A bag of rice (local or foreign) that sold for about N7,000 six years ago has  skyrocketed  to as high as N48,000- N50,000 per 50 kg for some brands. A sachet of tomato that used to sell for N50 now sells for as high as N150 or N200 while a loaf of bread has risen from N250 to N900, across major cities in the country in less than a decade.

Nigerians that can not do without poultry now will have to cough out double of what they used to pay for poultry. Yet Nigerians need it because of protein. But it has been heavily affected  by the lingering inflation.

Poultry products such as eggs, chicken/turkey meat  have assumed a skyrocketing price. A kilogramme of chicken that previously sold for N800 now sells for N2400, while a crate of egg that sold for N700 now sells within the range of N1800 -N2000 and above in the markets.

Johnson Arogo, a poultry trader said he started his business with just  N300,000 in 2018, but that without a minimum of N1 million seed capital, he does not think a trader can start anything now.

Bottles of Palm oil

A 25 litres of red oil  in 2018 was sold for between N8,000 to N9,000 but today it is sold at the rate of N27, 000 to N28,000 depending on the area,   Business Hallmark investigation has revealed.

Garri

A bag of yellow garri that went for the sum of N7,000 in 2018 is now sold at the rate of N24,000. While a 50kg bag of white garri that was sold for N6,000 in 2018 is now sold at N18,000.

Beans

A  bag (100kg) of beans that sold for  N12,000  in 2018  now goes for  N53,000 and above.

Juliet  Nwankwo who sells frozen foods at Alade market told Business Hallmark that a carton of frozen turkey previously sold at N6,500 – N7,000 in 2018 now costs N26,000 – N27,00 while a cartoon of frozen chicken is now sold at N25,000 from N6,000.

“A carton of Titus fish sold at N12,000 now costs an average of N42,000 for the small carton and N54,000 for the big cartoon,she said.

A carton of small pack noodles that was sold for N1,500 around 2018 is now sold for N3,800 while the “super pack” size sold at N2,500 as at that time is now N5,500, investigations have revealed.

A 10kg bag of golden penny wheat sold for N2,100 in 2018 is now N5,200.

A carton of golden penny spaghetti that  is now  N8, 000 but in 2018  it went for  N4,700. While a 10kg bag of Mama Gold semolina sold at N2,500 then is now N5,900.

Apart from having the headache of rising foods prices, Nigerians have had to grapple with rising cost of house rent. There has been an exodus of people from the high brow areas such as Lekki, Surulere, Ikeja, Yaba etc to suburban outskirts of the city in search of lower house rents.

In places like Alakuko, Abule Egba, Ishaga, Ojodu Berger, Ikotun, Egbeda, Command the cheapest two-bedroom goes for 400k per annum, while  agreement and commission are in the range of 200k, meaning the cheapest a prospective tenant can pay for new accommodation in those areas mentioned is 600k, while a beautiful house with better fittings in the same areas mentioned goes for as high as one million.

The same two-bedroom in places like Surulere, Ikeja and some areas of Ogba goes as high as 1.4 million.

In Ikoyi, Lekki areas, the same two bedrooms goes for between 1.5 to 2 millions .

A self- contain apartment in middle class neighborhood of Lagos that used to go for as from 150k to 200k now goes for between 250k to 400k, in some areas even higher.

An estate consultant, Gbemiga Adegoroye blamed the trend on rising costs of building materials and inflation.