How We Manage With Rising Costs — Lagosians

Lagos residents have decried rising cost of foodstuff, which is having negative impact in many households in Nigeria.

Prices of foodstuff have skyrocketed in the last five months following the removal of petrol subsidy and floating of the country’s currency, Naira, by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

A market survey by THE WHISTLER showed that a 50kg bag of rice is now N45,000, while a bag of beans is also N45,000.

A small bucket of tomatoes is N4,000, a tuber of yam is N1,800, a paint of garri is N1,200, a small bowl of potatoes is N4,000, and a carton of Golden Penny spaghetti is N13,000.

There has also been a surge in the prices of vegetables. For instance, small bundle of water leaf that was sold for N50.00 previously is now N200.00.

Speaking with our correspondent in separate interviews, some of the residents discussed how soaring prices of foodstuff have been affecting them and their families.

Theophilus Tefa, described the current situation as terrible, explaining that he sometimes starved himself just to ensure his children are okay.

Tefa, a father of three, said he had adjusted to the current situation by ensuring that there is no wastage of food in his home.

“We’ve really adjusted. Formerly, I don’t used to measure rice, but now we need to measure rice because my kids are very, very extravagant. I measure it myself,” he said.

“Sometimes, I just starve myself because it’s hard (things are hard). I must be frank with you. But we just have to move on.”

Another resident, Esther Adowei, said people are suffering, adding that the rising cost of foodstuff is affecting her and her family so much.

Asked how her family have been coping, Adowei who is a head teacher said she has cut down on a lot of things.

“Previously, l would buy a carton of turkey, a carton of chicken, fish and beef monthly, but l no longer buy a carton of turkey,” Adowei said.

“I just buy a carton of chicken, a few kilos of fish and beef. My daughter’s best protein is turkey. I explained to her that things are very expensive now and she has to eat what we can afford.

“I buy one or two kilos of turkey occasionally just to make her happy.”

Also speaking with THE WHISTLER, a commercial bus driver, Calistus Udorji, lamented that his situation has become even more difficult with low turnout of passengers, adding that he spends almost all the money he makes in a day on fuel and food items, and can hardly save.

“It’s affecting us seriously. All the money I make in a day goes into fuel and food items. What we were buying N1 before is now N2,” Udorji lamented.

“The money I’m spending on my family now, I can’t calculate it because they must eat. When I was leaving this morning, I dropped N3,000 for them to manage. When I get home today I must drop. And the money I spend is more than the income. That’s the issue.”

Udorji who is the owner of the mini-bus he uses for transport business said it would have been more difficult for him and his family to cope with the rising cost of foodstuff he was driving for someone.

On her part, Rosemary Onah, said she has adjusted by buying foodstuff in bulk.

According to her, buying foodstuff in bulk reduces the stress associated with the rising cost of food stuff, noting that it is more economical to buy in bulk.

“The increase in the price of food stuff is alarming. Seriously, it’s affecting everybody – both the rich, the middle class and the poor – because the amount you buy something today is not the same thing you will buy it the next day,” Onah said.

“Buying in bulk has been saving us. But it’s affecting (rising cost of food). And again, they increase the price but the quantity is being reduced. That’s one thing that’s driving almost everybody crazy. Assuming the quantity is still the same way and you increase the price, it will be okay. But you increase the price and reduce the quantity. It’s alarming!”

For Emmanuel Adindu, he said that replanning has been helping him out.

Adindu who is a father of one, told THE WHISTLER that he has cut down cost by prioritizing.

A food stuff seller at Oke-Odo Market, Joshua Eze, attributed the rising cost of food stuff to fuel subsidy removal.

“If you look at it, the cost of transportation is too high, and when we come back (from the market), we try to recover our money (cos) and customers are complaining,” he said.

According to Eze, customers turnout has been low due to high cost of foodstuff and urged the government to do something about it.

“Government should know what to do about it, so as to reduce the high cost of foodstuff,”

Another foodstuff seller at Oke-Odo Market who identified himself as Ifeanyi said that transportation is the major reason for rising cost of foodstuff in the market.

He explained that there has been sharp increase in prices in the last three months because of cost incurred in transporting food produce from the point of production to market.

Adejoke, a groundnut oil seller at the market, also complained of low patronage, adding that it has been challenging getting by.

She said that there has been more than 15 percent increase in price of oil in the last two months. Adejoke said that a small gallon of oil, which was sold for N5,500 before is now N6,800.

Food Inflation

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its September 2023 Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, released in October, said food Inflation rose to 30.64 percent in September as against 23.34 percent it was in the same period in 2022.

The NBS said the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and milk, cheese, and eggs.

“The Food inflation rate in September 2023 was 30.64 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 7.30 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2022 (23.34%). The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and milk, cheese, and eggs,” the report said.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in September 2023 was 2.45 percent, this was 1.41 percent lower compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (3.87%). The decline in food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis was caused by a fall in the rate of increase in the average prices of potatoes, yam and other tubers, bread and cereals, fruits, and fish.

“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending September 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 25.65 percent, which was 6.29 percent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in September 2022 (19.36%).”

During the period under review, the headline inflation rate increased to 26.72 percent compared to the August headline inflation rate which was 25.80 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, Lagos State with food inflation rate of 35.66 percent trailed Kogi (39.37%) and Rivers (35.95%), in terms of states with highest rate of food inflation in the country.

Farming Has Become Risky – Experts Share Perspectives

A former President of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Segun Ajibola, attributed the rising cost of food stuff to insecurity and cost of operation in farms.

“There are two issues involved in the rising price of staple foods in the country. And the two issues border on the sources and the avenues through which food supply gets to the table of Nigerians. First of all is the local production. We produce a lot of staple foods in Nigeria (i.e yam, grains, corn, cassava related items, rice, vegetable, fruits, and palm produce), we produce all these.”

“Over the period, we’ve had security issues: militancy, terrorism, kidnapping – affecting farms and farmers in their various locations. If you look at where Nigeria often refers to as the food basket like Benue State, Niger, Plateau, most farmers have abandoned their farms; Zamfara , Kebbi, Sokoto, Borno, farming has become a very risky venture, even down to the south here. So that has affected food output.”

Ajibola who is also a farmer said: ” Rising cost of chemical, herbicides, farm labour, fuel, power and transportation, have all affected local supply of food items.

He pointed out that being an importer of food items like rice, poultry products and wheat, the current exchange rate has constituted some element of imported inflation to the country.

To address the rising cost of food stuff, he said that issues around insecurity, exchange rate, and other ancillary costs like fuel, transportation cost, water, power, among others need to be addressed.

Asked if subsidy would be a solution, the professor of economics said he would rather suggest that the government subsidizes farm inputs like fertilizer, chemical, herbicides, and so on to encourage farmers.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, highlighted issues around the exchange rate, high cost of energy, insecurity, fuel subsidy removal, bad state of the roads as some of the factors causing high cost of food stuff in the country.

“The first is the foreign exchange. Even for goods that are not imported, the foreign exchange depreciation impact is something that has a sector wide impact that affects all sectors,” he said.

“Then there’s transportation cost effect. Diesel has gone up significantly, most of these trucks that carry the food items – whether you’re talking about livestock, or you’re talking of food stuff – almost 80 percent of them are running on diesel and they’ve to pass on the cost to the consumer. So the cost of energy, particularly the cost of logistics arising from the high cost of energy, that’s a major factor.”

The former Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) called on the government to address the challenge of insecurity, adding that there is urgent need to get the country’s road network in good condition.

Emphasizing on the need to have quality road network, Yusuf said that about 90 percent of passenger and freight traffic in the country is done by road.

He urged the government to adopt a better financing framework for Nigerian roads, adding that the country cannot sustain quality road network from the budget.

Yusuf also called for adoption of technology in agriculture to ramp up production and save the country from drifting into food crisis.