The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that the prices of staple foods such as beans, tomatoes, and yams have surged by an average of 122 percent within twelve months from September 2023 to September 2024.
This surge, the NBS Selected Food Prices Watch report for September 2024 said, was highest in South East, South-South and South West.
BUSHLINK had reported that the cost of food has yet again retained the surge graph.
This is after the country recorded a consecutive two-month decrease in food and headline inflation between July and August 2024.
However, the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the NBS food inflation rate in September 2024 was 39.70 per cent, rising by 9.06 per cent on a year-on-year basis, compared to the 30.64 per cent rate recorded in September 2023.
The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of bread, maize, grains, guinea corn, yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber; palm oil, and vegetables, amongst others.
In highlighting the impact of the September CPI report on consumer purchasing power, the NBS stated that the fieldwork included measuring various items per kg/litre; such as eggs; yam; garri (white/yellow); onions; beans; rice; catfish; tomatoes; plantains; vegetable oil; milk; frozen chicken; Irish potatoes; dried fish; maize; groundnut oil; wheat flour; and others.
The selected food price watch noted that the average price of 1kg brown beans for instance saw a significant price increase year-on-year by 281.97 per cent from N2,738.59 in September 2024 to N716.97 in September 2023.
There was also a notable increase in the price of bread (sliced) by 115.74 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N708.36 in September 2023 to N1,528.19 in September 2024.
The NBS said medium-size Agric eggs (12 pieces) experienced significant price increases by N137.43 per cent on a year-on-year basis from the N1,047.47 sold in September 2023 to N2,487.04 sold in September 2024.
Subsequently, the data hub noted that the average price of 1kg local rice sold loose went up by 152.92 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N757.06 in September 2023 to N1,914.77 in September 2024, with a month-on-month increase of 4.57 per cent.
Nigerians purchased, on average, 1kg of yam tuber at N1,668.49 in September 2024, an increase of 180.97 per cent from N593.83 in September 2023.
Analysis of the report showed that the average price of purchasing 43 food items across the six geopolitical zones rose from N52,341.96 in September 2023 to N116,545.14 by September 2024.
According to the NBS August 2024 report, the price increase of 43 food items was highest in the South-East at 132,489.73 from the N69,536.50 recorded in September 2023, representing an increase of 90.53 per cent.
The item’s price rose in the South-South from N59,028.69 in September 2023 to N127,412.47 in September 2024.
In the South-West region, the items were sold for N125,231.30 a 138.18 per cent surge in 12 months from the N52,578.14 reported in September 2023.
The report said the purchasing power of the North-Central residents nosedived as costs rose by 170.8 per cent when the prices of the items were sold for N112,405.71 in September 2024 as against N41,508.34 in the preceding year.
It was no different in the Northeast where prices rose to N104,356.97, a tightening 139.78 per cent surge for consumers compared to the N43,521.97 in the preceding twelve-month period of September 2023.
For the North-West zone, in September 2024, the price stood at N97,374.67 from the N47,878.15 in September 2023 purchasing power of residents. This shows a 103.38 per cent increase.
The increasing cost of food commodities in Nigeria has become a serious cause for concern in recent years.
The situation worsened when President Bola Tinubu announced the end of fuel subsidy payments during his inauguration on May 29, 2023.
The ripple effects of this policy became more evident in the skyrocketing prices of goods and services as well as transportation costs across the country, with a devastating effect on food inflation.