The rise in the cost of livelihood in Nigeria in 2021 suggests that the year is the worst for consumers in decades as the amount paid for goods and services are becoming more worrisome.
The burden borne by Nigerian consumers is reflective of the stagflation which stands at 16.75 per cent in January 2021.
Food prices in Nigeria have seen its worst level in decades as food inflation rose to 20.57 per cent in January.
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Based on official data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the average price of 1kg of tomato increased by 19.8 per cent to N289.66 as against N241.78 sold in February 2021.
The average price of 1kg of imported rice rose by 24.2 per cent to N551.57 in 2021. Imported rice sold for N444.04 in the review period of last year.
A kilogram of local rice sold for N401.41, representing a 20.14 percent increase from the N334.11 sold in 2020.
Nigerian consumers in January 2021 paid N337.09 for kilogram of brown beans, representing a 22 per cent surge from N276.30 in 2020 February.
NBS which is the government’s data bank revealed that a 1kg of boneless beef rose by 11 per cent to N1,421.14 across the country, from the N1,279.60 which it sold during the same period of last year.
The price of Sliced Bread also rose by 8.21 per cent to N327.96 in January 2021 from N303.06 last year.
Transport fair has also seen a dramatic jump in prices over one year period. For instance, transport via bus journey intercity increased by 39.55 per cent year-on-year to N2,346.41 in January 2021 from N1,681.38 in January last year.
Uche Uwaleke, the Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Abuja Chapter, who spoke to THE WHISTLER decried the state of the economy and the untold hardship faced by consumers.
He said, “It is of concern that food inflation has remained the major driver of inflation.
“Since food inflation is the major challenge, it is obviously a supply issue and has gone beyond what the CBN monetary policy can control.
Uwaleke who is also a Professor of Capital Market Studies at the Nasarawa State University, suggested that the government should focus on increasing food production by aggressively implementing the massive agricultural programme contained in the Economic Sustainability Plan.
He blamed the rising inflation on the continuous increase in production input, adding that most of the resources needed for the production of goods and services have been negatively affected by government’s policies.
He said, “Production is not going on as it ought to be and there has been continuous drop in output. Prices of inputs are also going up. What this means is that the prices have not been stable and it has been going up because the electricity tariff has been increase. Price of input like power, energy has also increased and so we expect all these things to push up the prices of our goods.
“Also, the exchange rate has been increasing and it points to the fact that price of inputs for production has been rising and this must reflect on other things.
“The price of transporting commodities from the farms to the market has increased because of high energy cost. All these points to the fact that we cannot escape continuous price increase in all aspects.