Yuletide: Inflation, economic meltdown worsen festivities
goes as much as N4,000 and on like that.
A 50kg bag of rice for Instance that sold at N20,000 to N25,000 before the ban on foreign rice, now sells at N40,000 to N45,000.
In Lagos, and neighbouring Ogun State, particularly at closed border towns, the average prices of good sized chicken and turkey have recorded almost 100 percent increase from last year.
The price of a good sized chicken sold now between N12,000 – N15,000, while the price for a good sized turkey about an 100 percent increase from the price it was sold last Christmas, sold for N45,000 – N55,000.
The prices of oil, both vegetable and oil palm, among others, are no more good for consideration.
Prices of rice, vegetable oil, eggs, chicken (live and dressed), yam and whole grain wheat, among others, have increased marginally in the last three months, despite periodic figures by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) claiming there has been declining inflation.
In many parts of Nigeria, Christmas is a time to feast with family and friends, while exchanging gifts. But Blessing Onochie, at a Lagos market, said there is little to share with neighbours this year.
“Things are very hard, food is very expensive, source of income is not as before, so, giving this time around will be really hard,” she said.
Nigeria exited recession last year, but growth is fragile and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said recovery will be “subdued,” as the country grapples with double digit inflation, dollar shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically, a 50kg bag of Big Bull rice costs N30,650, while a 25kg bag costs N16,000, increasing from N30,170 and N15,750 respectively in the last two to three months.
At major supermarkets, a10kg bag costs N8,000 while it costs N7,000 at popular rice markets, increasing from N6,500 and N6,000 respectively in the last few months.
A 5kg bag of Golden penny garri is now N3,000, increasing from N2,500, and a 1kg bag costs N600, from N400 before the survey.
A 1kg bag of Honeywell Semolina sells for N700 at supermarkets, while it sells at the rate of N650 in the open market, increasing from N500/450 respectively before the survey.
Prices of different sizes of vegetable oil also marginally increased. For instance, a 4.6L keg of Power Oil is N7,800; 3.0 litre is N5,300 and1.4L keg is N2,800, increasing by a margin of about N800 each. A 5.0L keg of Kings Oil is N7,650, while at the street level, it is N7,500.
A crate of branded eggs is sold at N2,200 at most supermarkets, while at the open market, it costs between N1,800 and N2,000.
A 2kg whole chicken is sold at N2,300, while the street price is N2,100. Live chicken (brown old layer) is between N3,000 to 3,500, increasing from about N2,000/N2,500. A live broiler chicken is sold for N4,000 to N5,000, increasing from around N3,000 respectively.
A tuber of yam at supermarkets is about N1,500 and while on the street it costs about N1,200, depending on the size.
A food dealer, Ayoola Babatunde, attributed the rise in prices of most food items to high cost of transportation, shortage in production and activities of unscrupulous profiteers.
The COVID-19 lockdowns impaired farming activities, dry spells (drought) causing stunted crops, poor budgets to agriculture and volatile naira-dollar exchange rate have also been pinpointed as factors fueling food inflation.
It is not only the food segment that is witnessing spike in prices of goods and service. Shola Olopade, who is a tailor, has doubled the price of some of her clothes in the past two months to keep up with escalating costs of fabric and sewing tools.
“This time of the year I normally sleep in my shop to meet deadlines for my customers,” he said. “But this year I only have a few clothes to sew.”
Also, prices of bus fares across the country have increased by 100 per cent. Findings by The Guardian showed that prices of fares out of Lagos shored up due to the citizens travelling to spend the Yuletide holidays in their hometowns.
A bus fare from Jibowu in GIG to Abuja is N20,500, while a bus fare to Enugu is N16,400 via Okeyson Motors. Whereas a bus fare from Lagos to Abuja by GIG two months ago was N11,000 for regular, while first class was 13,000. Bus fare to Anambra was N8,500 for regular, while first class was N9,500.
Fares to Delta was N7,900 for regular, N9,000 for first class; fares to Edo was N7,000 for regular and N9,000 for first class while Akwa Ibom was N9,300, and N13,000 for regular and first class respectively.
At the time of filing this report, the transport fare from Lagos to Warri, Sapele, Bayelsa, Ugheli was N12, 000 instead of the previous N8,000 while Lagos to Port Harcourt went for N15,000, in contrast to the N10,000 charged two months ago.
A driver, Chibuzor Okon, said in the past two months, Lagos to Abuja had been N10,200 but noted that by the same time last year, it was N8,200. He added that the prices were likely to go up from today till January.
A driver, Kunle Fijabi, who plies Lagos to Ondo route, said the fare to areas like Ipetu, Akungba, Ikare, Owo is now N6,200, adding, “Before now, we charged N5,200 and this was when we reduced the number of passengers to 10 persons, but now it is 14 passengers.
Besides, the cost of travelling inter-city has risen by 18.02 per cent year-on-year in November 2021 to an average of N2,644, according to the transportation report by the NBS.
This increase is coming at a time when inter-state travelling is in high demand as Nigerians will be travelling from one city to another to visit families and friends. According to the report, the highest increase was recorded in the south-south region of the country.
According to the report, the average cost of bus journey intercity in the South-south region of Nigeria increased by 22.94 per cent year-on-year compared to the corresponding period of 2020. Specifically, the average cost increased from N1,769 recorded in November 2020 to N2,175 in the period under review.
Meanwhile, intercity bus fare is highest in the North central region of the country at N3,075, followed by the Southwest region at N2,881.
The list is endless, Christmas cannot be said to be complete without merriment, which entails winning and dinning. This cannot be possible without food of balanced diet.
It is important to state that the current cost of living has forced many families to go on artificial hunger strike, not because they are observing any religious rite, but because they cannot afford the procurement of the basic needs of life.
Majority of households are excluded from the Christmas celebration for the harsh economy. An ease on some of the hard policies, such as the closure of border, may be considerable.
A peep could as well be made into the world history, with a view to ascertaining how the western nations weathered through their developmental stages to get to where they are today.
In Asia for instance, young people worked so hard during their economic incubation stages and grew old overnight, but today they can beat their chest of successes. That is not to say that it is impossible in Nigeria.
But it is hard for Nigeria when crude oil sourced locally are refined abroad and brought back to the Country at exorbitant rates.
First thing should come first. Having known the bandwagon effect of hike in petroleum products, every effort should have been made to stabilise the sector, which ordinarily is where Nigeria has its comparative advantage.
Cost of living will continue to soar, if the government neglects natural or basic principles of life and even primary administrative tenets.
