By Cajetan Mmuta Dennis Mernyi and Nimake Earland
Bauchi, Awka, Abuja
Nigerians all over are lamenting over the excruciating galloping inflationary trend that has skyrocketed prices of food items beyond their reach during the yuletide season. Barely five days to Christmas, the beehive of activities that follows Christmas celebration, particularly at business centres, marketplaces, and motor parks have virtually disappeared in most of the urban cities, towns, and villages in Nigeria, even though we are in December, the last month of the year.
ThisNigeria market survey further confirms the reality of the time. At the popular Karshi village, Karu, and Nyanya markets the revelations were stunning as bags of 50kg and 25kg local rice are sold at N27,000 and N13,500 respectively, while a similar quantity of foreign rice is sold for N30,000 and N15,000 respectively.
A gallon of King’s vegetable oil goes for N6500 as against N5500 in the past while a gallon of palm oil is sold at N6000. A pack of Maggi cubes that used to be sold at N600 now goes for N900. A basket of onions that was sold only last month for N1500 is priced N2500 during the weekend. The same measure of tomatoes that was sold at N1000 is going for N1500.
A bag of beans is sold between N25,000 and 30,000 depending on the quality while a plastic measure is sold between N800 and N1,000. Lamenting how precarious the situation has become, Mrs. Habila told one of our correspondents that most families may not be able to afford even a measure “mudu” of rice for Christmas this year.
In Abuja, and the neighbouring Nasarawa State, barely one week to the Christmas, cost of both intra and inter-state transportation has doubled. Local taxi cabs within the city centre to either Karu, Nyanya, Kubwa, or Lugbe now charge between N200 and N300, as against N100 to N150 in the past. Chattered taxis like Uber and Bolt charge between N500 to N1500 for short distances around the city. Airport taxis now charge as much as N8,000 to N10,000 as against N5,000 to N7,000.
Most commercial drivers who spoke with ThisNigeria attributed the increase in transport fares to the scarcity of fuel and the high rise in spare parts and maintenance costs. A commercial taxi driver popularly known as‘kabu kabu’, Mr. Duro Aja, who plies AYA-Nyanya-Mararaba, Masaka route lamented his frustration at the petrol station. “After spending hours on the queues at filling stations, I still bought the product at a higher price so the only way I can recover my money and make a profit is to add either N100 or N150”, he explained.
This Nigeria Checks at major motor parks within and outside the city centre of Abuja reveals that transport within Abuja metropolis has also gone higher. At the popular Jabi motor park for instance, on Abuja to Kaduna-Kano-Zaria route, passengers used to pay between N2,500 and N4,000 as fares but the fares have suddenly increased to N3,500 and N5,000.
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Abuja to Makurdi and Jos routes have also witnessed a surge in transport fare. The fare has jumped from N3000 to N4000. From ThisNigeria survey it is disheartening to report that prices of local foodstuff differ from state to state in the country. For instance, in Bauchi, the prices of some of these staple foods are astronomical in the markets.
At the Gwallameji market in Bauchi metropolis, a trader in food commodities Sunday Afolabi is selling a bag of imported rice at N32,000 against N18,000 the previous year, while a bag of local rice is sold at N44,000 against N36,000 last year.
He added that a bag of sugar that was going for N17,000 in 2020 is now N22, 000. At the Yelwa market, a carton of seasoning cube goes for N13,000 as against N9,000. Another trader, Mallam Abdul Muhammad who deals in eggs explained that the price of eggs has soared astronomically as last year a crate of eggs is N900, but it is now N1,750.
For Juliet, this is the season for pastries and sales should be booming for flour, butter, sugar, and the likes, but that is not the case as flour that she bought at N19,000 last year is now N22,500, while a carton of King’s butter now goes for N18,000 against N15,000 in 2020. At the Muda Lawal market, a grain seller, Habib Haruna attributed the high inflation to the late rainfall as farmers continue to hoard their goods for more profit. He explained that by now farmers ought to have brought out their hoarded goods, but such is not the case.
Haruna explained that grains like rice were sold for N400 per measure last year, but it is now N700 a measure. For beans, it was N350 per measure but now is going for N700 and N800. While a litre of groundnut which was around N400 last year is now N650.
ThisNigeria investigation reveals that Bauchi experienced drought in the earlier part of the year, and this largely affected harvest. However, this to a large extent contributed to the high rise in the cost of food items in the state.
For a consumer who is also a farmer, Mrs Rifkatu Isa, the escalating prices of foodstuffs are becoming unbearable. She said her saving grace is that she farms to augment her meagre salary but even at that she has to sell most of her farm produce to buy other necessities for this festive season. Also in Awka, the Anambra State capital, residents and traders are groaning over the rising cost of prices of food items and other essential commodities.
Findings revealed that traders and market women had since late November and early December stockpiled their shops and warehouses with essential foodstuffs such as rice, beans, and grains of corn, millet, confectioneries, dry fish, garri, yam tubers, and others. Unfortunately, the expectations of these traders are not being met as patronage is extremely low due to poor purchasing power among the consumers.
The investigation further reveals that the abnormal increase in prices has brought about a drop in patronage as many people could not afford the prevailing market prices of these foodstuffs.
At the Eke Awka daily market in the state capital, ThisNigeria checks reveal that a cup of imported rice is selling between N150 and N200 though dependent on the quality of the rice while a bag is selling between N27, 000 to N35, 000 while local rice such as Abakiliki and Omor products go for N100 per cup as a bag is sold between N23, 000 and N25, 000.
Some of the dealers attributed the rise in the cost of beans to a hike in transport fare and insecurity mostly in states in the northern part of the country. Others noted that despite the hike in the prices of some of the foodstuffs, patronage dropped drastically because of low earnings and increased poverty in the land.
ThisNigeria also observes that there is a high propensity to stockpile their stocks by the big-time dealers arising from the Federal Government’s proposed removal of fuel subsidy next year.
Speaking on the state of things, businesses, and general economic situation as they affect preparations for this year’s Christmas celebration, Mrs. Chinaenye Chukwuma who sells seed tomatoes at Eke Awka Market disclosed that things are hard generally and it is affecting their daily sales. “Customers’ patronage is low and this is because many people are now into the business and income is also low coupled with poverty situation.”
According to her, “To be honest with you, we buy a basket of tomatoes before now at Onitsha market at N36,000 or N38,000 depending on the prevailing circumstances but now the price has come down and a basket sells at N18, 000 and we also pay N1,500 for land to taskforce people, making it a total of N20, 000. Yet with this fall in price, the patronage is not encouraging at all.”
