Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis has eased for the first time since President Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, offering an unexpected respite for households and a possibility of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s interest rate cut in the next Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
In a survey of major markets in Nigeria, BusinessDay found that the average prices of some key staples declined in February 2025, easing the burden on cash-strapped Nigerians who have been dealing with accelerating inflation since the 2020 pandemic.
BusinessDay surveyed markets in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, finding that the average price of a 50 kg bag of foreign parboiled rice now sells for ₦85,000, depending on the brand and size of the grain as against ₦110,000 sold five months ago.
A 50kg of local parboiled rice now sells for an average of ₦95,000 in the city, compared to ₦105,000 sold three months ago.
The price of a big basket of fresh tomatoes has dropped 70 per cent in Lagos from an average of ₦120,000 to ₦35,000. In 2024, Nigerians could not afford to buy tomatoes owing to the price surge that forced consumers to opt for alternatives like banga and paste, combined with dried pepper and beetroot.
Similarly, a 4-litre paint container of garri now sells for ₦2,500 from an average of ₦3,500 five months ago, indicating a 28.5 per cent increase in price. A 60 kg bag of garri now sells for ₦37,500. In Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, and Onitsha, Anambra State, a big tuber of yam now sells for ₦2,500 as against ₦5,500 sold five months ago.
In Port Harcourt and Abuja, onion prices have dropped. It is now possible to buy six to 10 pieces of onion with ₦1000 as against three or four pieces at the same price three months ago.
“The drop in price of beans, yam and garri is a big relief for Nigerians, especially for low-income earners,” said Chinwe Okezie, a make-up artist at Ikosi–Ketu.
“But the prices still need to come down to the levels they were before subsidy removal and it should not just be on some food items but all,” Okezie noted.
She urged the government to provide more support for farmers to cultivate higher quantities of food and open the borders for the inflow of cheaper imported items.
According to a November report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), one in three Nigerian households cannot feed, with families skipping meals as they cannot afford enough food.
The report stated that the number of households that reported not having enough food to eat owing to a lack of money doubled to 62.4 per cent in 2023 from 37 per cent in 2019.
The country also saw its 2024 Global Hunger Index score rise to 28.8, ranking 110th out of 127 countries. The index termed the level of hunger in the country as “alarming.”
To further accelerate the decline in food prices across the country, experts say the government must allow the importation of food in the short term while addressing issues that hinder production and supply in the medium term.
According to them, the federal government will have to make a concerted effort to stem insecurity, drastically reduce post-harvest losses, fix structural deficiencies across the value chain and increase technology usage on farms to boost local food production in the long run.
Jude Obi, president of the Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria, said many farmers do not cultivate in places where they usually grow food owing to the worsening insecurity in the country.
“The government must address the issue of insecurity to drive down food prices to reasonable levels,” Obi, the general secretary of the Soil Science Society of Nigeria, said.
(BusinessDay)
