A bag of rice now at N70,000 threatens to reach N90,000 under Tinubu
A bag of rice now at N65,000 nearly double from N35,000
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A 50kg bag of rice has shot up in price to N70,000 – double from N35,000 a few months ago – and consumers fear it may cost up to N90,000 in a matter of another months, as insecurity in the North prevents farmers from harvesting crops and food inflation keeps rising on the back of increases in transportation costs.
Hunger is spreading across the country as a result of untamed inflation, food insecurity, and shrinking purchasing power under the watch of President Bola Tinubu, whose loyalists blame opposition parties or distort facts to defend him.
There have been hunger protests this year in Minna, Kano, Osogbo, Lagos, and Ibadan.
The protests began in Lagos back in December 2023 when demonstrators besieged the convoy of Tinubu on his way to the mosque on Nnamdi Azikiwe Street shouting “We are hungry, we are hungry.”
In the latest hunger incident, a video posted on social media yesterday showed residents of Katsina stopped and looted trucks reportedly belonging to Dangote laden with foodstuff.
It was not clear the food items on the trailers. But Dangote is one of the leading manufacturers of foodstuff such as flour, noodles, sugar, salt, spaghetti, macaroni, et cetera.
The video showed men, women, and children were involved in the looting.
Headline inflation rate was 28.92 per cent in December 2023, and food inflation 32.84 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The prices of most food items have hiked above 100 per cent in recent weeks as the following examples show:
- 50kg bag of rice – N70,000 up from N35,000
- Mudu of beans – N1,600 (N800)
- 50kg bag of garri – N39,500 (N22,000)
- Carton of noodles super – N11,140 (N6,000)
- 25 litres of groundnut oil – N57,000 (N34,000)
- Sizes 3 and 4 of 1kg pampers – N900 (N400)
- A crate of eggs – N3,700 (N2,500)
- 50kg bag of sugar – N85,000 (N40,000)
- 900g loaf of bread – N1,200 (N500)
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Traders and consumers lament, experts blame bad government policies
Traders and customers all are lamenting the hardship caused by a combination of bad government planning, insecurity, high cost of governance, corruption, and treasury looting, among other factors collated in a survey by Daily Post
Amina Jibrin (trader in Dawaki, Abuja)
“Every day we go to the market, the prices of items always increase. We cannot afford to buy goods in the market.
“It will be as if you went to the market and misplaced your money. I may quit my business because I no longer make any money.”
Mabel Rufus (Lagos resident)
“Fresh tomato is a no-go area. In most places, onion is three [pieces] for N300, for the small sized one. Egg, a crate is almost N4,000, something in the range of N2,000 a few months ago.
“The situation is affecting us seriously. Salary can no longer cater for food, let alone other needs. We are dying in this country under Tinubu.”
Segun Ajibola (Council of Chartered Institute of Bankers (CCIB) President and Chairman)
“The genesis of the current spiral inflation rests in the badly skewed structure of the Nigerian economy.
“An economy that is monolithic and hangs its foreign exchange earnings on a primary gift of nature, oil, is susceptible to price instability as it may not have the buffer to mellow down prices, which are said to be sticky downwards.
“The insatiable appetite for imported consumables further compounds Nigeria’s situation. Basic needs such as food, medicine, raw materials, and spares are largely imported.
“The local currency, the naira, depreciates rapidly for the reasons mentioned. All these put pressure on local prices daily.
“Beyond rhetoric, the managers of the economy should drive import substitution strategies effectively. The idea of devoting much attention to sharing the available foreign exchange among contending users amid the local currency’s dwindling fortunes can only worsen matters.
“The slogan: ‘produce what you consume, consume what you produce’ should graduate from paper slogan to practicality. The list of importable items to Nigeria is unwinding and needs to be tamed. India, China, Malaysia, etc, have done it successfully recently.
“In the long run, the economy needs to be restructured via diversification. Agriculture needs total overhauling to ensure food security; a new industrial policy is long overdue, while new technological innovations should be introduced to redefine all segments of the national economy.
“In all these, infractions, economic sabotage, and rent-seeking syndrome should be chased out of this fledgling national economy.
“Where caught, heavy sanctions should be applied on the offending individuals and corporate bodies.”
Idakolo Gbolade (CEO of SD & D Capital Management)
“The rising cost of food items can be attributed to the continued depreciation of the Naira. The US dollar is exchanged on the Nigeria Customs portal for $1-N1,380; the official rate is close to that. On the black market, it is exchanged for $1-N1,470.
“The cost of food prices is directly proportional to the strength of the naira, and most government policies are taking too long to be formulated.
“The government has directed the release of 102 million metric tonnes of grains from the strategic grains reserve, but that measure is not enough to bring down food prices.
“The government needs to immediately implement a price-fixing policy for some food items and monitor excessive profit by traders.
“In the long run, we must look inward and ensure the agricultural revolution plan of the government is tailored towards self-sufficiency, while major staples like rice, beans, millet, etc, should be banned from being imported into the country to strengthen local production and eventual export.
“The economy needs to be diversified from being import-dependent to export-oriented to make the country recover the lost opportunities over the years.”