National Bureau of Statistics has reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 33.88 per cent in October 2024, up from 32.7% in September 2024, reflecting a 1.18 percentage point month-on-month increase. This implies that the rate at which prices of goods and services are offered in the market increased by 1.18 per cent. Meanwhile staple food traders and consumers in Lagos lament the consistent hike in food prices. In separate interviews on Friday in Lagos, the traders and consumers lamented the constant rise in foodstuffs. They said that the situation was getting out of hand and a tough situation for Nigerians recently. They said that sellers and consumers struggled to manage daily expenses as food prices escalated. A trader at Trade Fair market, Dipson Anayo, said the price of vegetable oil had increased tremendously. The trader said a 25-litre of vegetable oil had increased to N105,000 from N55,000 and N60,000 a month ago. “The price hike is tough for both distributors and traders. The companies tell us that the cost of production has spiked, pushing up prices daily. Fuel costs and customs duties also contributed to the burden, making it harder to bring in goods from the border. Food prices only go up and never come down. The government knows about these issues, but nothing has changed,” stated the trader. Another trader in Agboju Market, Fanny Idenedo, noted that the price of a container of palm oil had increased from N30,000 to N70,000, a situation she blamed on fuel hike.
According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which attributed the rise in inflation to increased transportation costs and higher food prices. On a year-on-year basis, the rate was 6.55 percentage points higher than the 27.33% recorded in October 2023, highlighting a substantial increase in inflation over the past year. On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in October 2024 stood at 2.64%, representing a 0.12% increase from the 2.52% recorded in September 2024. This indicates that the rate of increase in the average price level in October 2024 was higher than the rate of increase observed in September 2024. NBS said that food inflation rate in October 2024 stood at 39.16 per cent year-on-year, an increase of 7.64 percentage points compared to the 31.52 per cent recorded in October 2023. On a month-on-month basis, it said the food inflation rate rose to 2.94 per cent, a 0.30 per cent increase from the 2.64 per cent recorded in September 2024. This increase was driven by rising prices of items such as local and foreign beer in the tobacco class, vegetable oil, groundnut oil, and palm oil in the oil and fats class, as well as beef, gizzard, dried beef in the meat class, and products like Lipton, Milo, and Bournvita. The average annual food inflation rate for the twelve months ending in October 2024 was 38.12%, representing an 11.79 percentage point increase from the 26.33% recorded in October 2023.
According to the NBS report Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy, stood at 28.37% in October 2024 on a year-on-year basis, reflecting an increase of 5.79% compared to the 22.58% recorded in October 2023. The highest increases were observed in the prices of items such as bus journeys within the city, motorcycle journeys, and intercity bus journeys (under the Passenger Transport by Road category); rents (both actual and imputed rentals under the Housing category); meals at local restaurants (under the Accommodation Services category); and services such as haircuts, women’s hairbrushes, and women’s hairstyling (under Hairdressing Salons and Personal Grooming Establishments). On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 2.14% in October 2024, slightly higher by 0.04% than the 2.10% recorded in September 2024.
The average twelve-month annual inflation rate stood at 26.12% for the twelve months ending October 2024, representing an increase of 6.14 percentage points compared to the 19.98% recorded in October 2023. On a year-on-year basis, the urban inflation rate in October 2024 was 36.38%, which was 7.09 percentage points higher than the 29.29% recorded in October 2023. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate stood at 2.75% in October 2024, marking an increase of 0.08 percentage points compared to 2.67% in September 2024. The twelve-month average urban inflation rate was 34.52% in October 2024, which was 9.76 percentage points higher than the 24.76% reported in October 2023. The rural inflation rate in October 2024 was 31.59% on a year-on-year basis, reflecting an increase of 6.01 percentage points compared to 25.58% in October 2023. On a month-on-month basis, rural inflation was 2.53% in October 2024, up by 0.14 percentage points from 2.39% in September 2024. The twelve-month average rural inflation rate was 30.24% in October 2024, which was 8.01 percentage points higher than the 22.23% recorded in October 2023.
“Fuel prices have made palm oil more expensive, and we expect it to rise further during the festive period, as production usually slows down. The cost of eggs has also increased. A crate, which previously sold for N4,500, now sells for N6,500,” Ms Idenedo said. Amira Ayeola, a civil servant, decried the persistent increase in the cost of eggs and other poultry produce. Eggs should be affordable, but they keep getting more expensive. I used to buy a full crate; now, I can only afford half a crate. Poultry farmers and the government need to find ways to reduce costs,” Ms Ayeola said. An egg trader, Morufa Jimoh, said the development was affecting patronage. “It is only few consumers that can now afford to buy eggs due to the price increase caused by a rise in the cost of feeds. The government is making efforts, but let us be honest: the Lagos Sunday market initiative has been exploited by many egg traders. The merchants working with the government sell only 20 per cent of the eggs directly to consumers, while the remaining 80 per cent are sold to egg vendors and resold at higher prices, which is unfair,” Ms Jimoh said. A banker, Cynthia Okoli, lamented that rice was getting out of reach of many Nigerians. Ms Okoli noted that the price of rice had increased by over 20 per cent in the last three months, saying, “A 50kg bag of rice now sells between N105,000 and N120,000 against N75,000 to N90,000 it was sold in July.” A consumer, Bolatito Emmanuel, said the government alone should not be blamed for the country’s current situation. Ms Emmanuel noted that high-profit margins by some sellers contributed to the consistent price hike
