It’s never been this horrible. Many Nigerians are agonising and suffering due to hunger and hardship. Annual inflation in Nigeria reached 26.72% in September, the worst level in nearly two decades, amid a deteriorating cost-of-living issue in Africa’s largest economy. The September inflation rate increased for the ninth consecutive month, from 25.8% in August. According to a recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, President Bola Tinubu’s disastrous economic policies have impoverished millions of Nigerians.
Food inflation, which accounts for the majority of Nigeria’s inflation basket, increased to 30.64% in September from 29.34% in August. Food inflation, which accounts for the majority of Nigeria’s inflation basket, increased to 30.64% in September from 29.34% in August. Tinubu has been under pressure to alleviate economic misery following the elimination of a decade-old petrol subsidy that tripled prices and caused the naira to plummet by more than 50%, sending prices soaring in Africa’s top oil producer and most populous nation.
Travellers have been paying through the nose to make the traditional end-ofyear holiday excursion to the nation, and many have cancelled such trips. Many families will be unaware that it is Christmas because the high expense of food is out of their reach. The earth is groaning and gnashing its teeth only as a result of terrible government policy.
In Abuja and other states, many families are grappling with financial challenges due to soaring prices of goods and services, driven by inflation, removal of fuel subsidies, and scarcity of cash.
The economic strain has prompted families to adopt cost-cutting measures, with some reconsidering their usual holiday travel plans. Staple foods like rice, beans, chicken, turkey, and goat, a source of protein to many, have experienced significant price increases.
The cost of chicken last year was about seven to ten thousand naira but this year it’s between fifteen to eighteen thousand naira.
Turkey is not left out, last year a sizable turkey was sold for twenty to twenty-five thousand naira depending on the size, but this year, it’s sold for thirty to thirty-five thousand naira, according to a market survey by our correspondent in Abuja.
The cost of a 50kg bag of beans has risen from twenty-two thousand naira to thirty-five to forty thousand naira, while Royal Stallion Rice, sold for forty-five to fifty thousand naira last year, is now priced at sixty-two thousand naira.
The prices of goats are not an exception. Last year, goats were sold for twenty-five to thirty-five thousand Naira and this year it is sold for 35 to 60 thousand depending on the size. Even the cost of ram is now cheaper than goat. “People are always asking us for cheaper protein alternatives like Shawa (herring fish) and eggs, as well as Ponmo (cowhide),”
Bus fares to various destinations have surged by nearly 100%, impacting travel plans for many residents. The fares are expected to fluctuate further as Christmas approaches. The spike in transport costs, however, has led to a decrease in the number of residents planning trips to their hometowns for the festive season. One of the residents of FCT said he had the intention of travelling with his family to his hometown in Port Harcourt for the festive period but had to change the plans due to the increase in the pump price of petrol. He said, “I usually travel with my family for the New Year festivity every year but we can’t do that now because we all know what the petrol price is saying now.
Instead, I will send money to my people at home and manage myself and my family here in Abuja. Many parents are opting not to buy Christmas clothes for their children due to financial constraints caused by spiralling inflation.”
In Gombe State, for example, the high cost of fuel and car spare parts has forced the disappearance of 50 to 60 percent of commercial motor operators from the roads. The situation is further causing untold hardship to people despite the biting inflation of goods and services across virtually all the sectors of the economy of the State and the country at large.
A visit to some markets and motor parks in the Gombe metropolis showed that it is a completely different ball game this year compared to what was obtainable last year in December in terms of prices of food and transport fares.
At the popular Dadaleso motor park, the Secretary of the Park, Naziru Mohammed decried the abandonment of the park by over fifty percent of the drivers who make a living by transporting people from the park to other places and back. He said it calls for serious concern.
According to him, people are going through untold hardship which in turn, negatively affects their source of livelihood. A litre of fuel which used to cost N195 is now N700.
“Transport fares have tripled due to fuel subsidy removal on May 29th, 2023. The destination we used to collect N400 is now N900. What we used to collect N600, we now collect N1,100 while the fare that used to cost N700 by this time last year is now N1,300,” Mohammed said. It’s a similar story in Enugu, Southeast Nigeria.
A housewife, Mrs Ngozi Ekene, lamented over the high increase in foodstuffs and other commodities, explaining that Christmas will be tough and expressed worry that Nigerians are facing a tough situation this Yuletide season over how foodstuffs and other household items keep increasing daily.
Speaking with Saturday INDEPENDENT, Mrs. Ekene said eating three square meals for many families has become difficult. “It’s unfortunate that Nigerians are going through a tough time. Foodstuff, fuel, and accommodation among others have gone up.
Government should come to our rescue because this is the worst Christmas ever and there is nothing to celebrate except that we are alive.”
A businessman at Old Artisan Market, Enugu, Gabriel Ngene lamented over poor sales saying, “Even though we are selling foodstuff which usually records massive sales during Yuletide season this year sales is very poor due to inflation rate as people are complaining of nonavailability of cash.
For instance, a 50kg bag of rice now sells for N60,000 against N35 it was sold last year while a chicken now costs N8,000 to N9,000 against N3,500 to N4,000 it was sold last year.”
For those who prefer to fly due to the deplorable state of the roads, current airfares are discouraging. Players in the Nigerian aviation industry have attributed the continuous fall of the naira against the major currencies, especially the dollar, and the exploitation of the travelling public by the airlines during the yuletide season as the two reasons airfares keep rising in the sector.
Return tickets on some select local routes, especially in the South have climbed to over N500,000, while the minimal airfares to any routes in the country at present is about N150,000.
Speaking on the issue, Mr. Yinka Folami, the Vice President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), said that the present high airfares on domestic routes are negatively affecting the fortunes of the travel agencies.
