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Implications of rising food prices on lives of average Nigerians

The soaring cost of food items is a source of worry to many families. SANDRA OBOCHI, in the piece, tries to look at factors responsible for the price increase and how average Nigerians are coping with the trend.

Average Nigerians are lamenting the soaring increase in the price of staple food items across the country, complaining that most families can no longer afford regular meals due to their low purchasing power. They expressed worry over the situation stating that while incomes have remained stagnant, the cost of living has skyrocketed.

Worst hit by the current state of affairs are the low income earners. Nigerians blame the rising prices of foodstuffs on the scarcity of food items and the attendant high demand for the available food products. A visit to markets across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Nasarawa State, respectively, confirmed the increase in the prices of foodstuffs like garri, rice, beans, maize, and flour. The price of these items have gone off the roof. A bag of maize and guinea corn now cost N25, 000 each, while soya bean goes for N35, 000 per bag, as against the initial price of N29, 000. Similarly, a bag of brown beans currently sells for N56, 000, a bag of local rice is now sold at N28, 000 while foreign rice is sold at N30, 000. A measure of white beans which was previously sold for N500, now goes for N900, just as brown beans goes for N1, 000. A bag of white garri which was sold for N16, 500 is now N18, 000, while the yellow garri is sold for N19, 500.

Previously, a measure of garri was sold for N400, but now goes for N700. For Madam Beatrice, who runs a restaurant located at Wuse 2, Abuja, she lamented the uncontrollable increase in foodstuffs prices, noting that it has affected her business severely. “The cost of foodstuffs have gone up to the extent that the naira now does not have any value. You go to the market with N100, 000 and you cannot show what you bought with it. I had to reduce the quantity of the rice I sell because customers complained that it was too small for the amount. It is not my fault; you cannot buy a bag of rice for almost N30, 000 and not make profit. When the price of foodstuffs increases, it is difficult to increase your own price because patronage drops. You have to be careful in order not to lose your customers. It is frustrating,” she bemoaned. Mr. Peter Ire, a banker residing at New Karu, Nasarawa State said: “We cannot continue to blame the increase in the prices of food items on inflation, as most of the essential food commodities are grown in the country.

Is the increase in dollar rate the reason why prices of locally grown rice and cassava were increased? Let us be honest with ourselves; the economy is dying. I hope the high increase in foodstuff prices will not kill the poor and average person in the country. How do we afford it? I don’t want to believe that traders are using it as a means to exploit people for their selfish gains.” Another respondent, Margaret Nwachukwu, said she does not go to the market with a budget anymore because at the end of the day, she ends up paying extra for every item she buys. Her words, “it is very annoying when you go to the market with your budget and discover that you have to start altering it because prices have changed from what you used to know. So there is no need, I just go and buy what my money can afford. When you ask the traders, they say it is not their fault but the manufacturers.

I wonder what the country is turning into.” Nwachukwu also said that due to the increase in foodstuffs prices, she had resorted to buying staple foods like rice and garri in cups since she does not have any extra mouth to feed. Another respondent, Ms. Lady Omoruku, a hairdresser in Karu, Abuja, lamented the extra hours she has to put at work to be able to get extra income to sustain her and her younger ones due to the high cost of food items. “The hike is not just for food items; everything in Nigeria is very expensive. But we need to eat, so we don’t have a choice. The increase has made me work harder. I have younger ones who rely on me. Most times, I do home service which gives me extra money to be able to sustain my family. It is terrible, I don’t know how we have been surviving.” Sunday Abel, a civil servant in Benue State, said he could no longer afford to buy a bag of rice due to the increase in prices. According to him, the monthly upkeep he gives to his wife is barely enough to sustain them for a month. “My wife now settles for a measure or plastic paint bucket of rice, beans and garri. These are things I used to buy in bags and it sustained the family for months. Now, we can barely afford even a half bag. I don’t understand why they are now so expensive.

Life has become very difficult and people are suffering.” He expressed concerns that it is mostly average Nigerians that are bearing the brunt of the soaring food prices, adding that “the current market prices of foodstuffs have made my family move to an only breakfast and dinner meal plan. Before now, we substituted afternoon meals by taking garri, but that too has gotten too expensive. If garri, that is the hope of the common Nigerian man, is no longer affordable, then there is a big problem in this country.” Mr. Stephen Tyavmough, a welder in Benue State said: “In as much as the prices of foodstuffs have increased, people’s incomes have not changed. So people still have to buy food and pay for other bills which has increased the poverty rate in the country. People cannot even have savings. Let’s not even talk about the insecurity, people can no longer go to their farms. Look at my village, Zaki-Biam in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State that has one of the largest yam markets in West Africa, farmers can no longer go to their farms because of communal dispute, insecurity and external factors.” He urged the federal and state governments to find ways to solve the threat and ensure farmers feel secure to return to their farms.

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