February inflation accelerate most in Bauchi, Rivers, Ondo

Inflation in Africa’s biggest economy accelerated the most in Bauchi Rivers, Ondo, Kogi, and Anambra in February on a year-on-year basis, according to the Consumer Price Index report.

Bauchi, Rivers, Ondo, Kogi, and Anambra inflation rates were 24.4, 24.3, 23.9, and 23.9 percent respectively all of which outpace the headline inflation.

Although, the inflation rate in the various states decreased marginally on a month-on-month basis, but were still the states with the highest inflation rate in January 2023.

Muda Yusuf, the founder of the Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprise, told BusinessDay attributed the surge in diesel prices and high rate of insecurity in Bauchi to the accelerating inflation in the state.

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He said that in Bauchi, it is possible that there are some elements of food items not produced there which are imported from other states, food like sugar, and flour comes from Lagos because they are imported.

This is evident in the monthly diesel price report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as Bauchi recorded the highest price of diesel in February at N904.3, while Ondo recorded the seventh-highest price of diesel at N868.33.

Muda said that Rivers State also shares the same burden of transport cost because not much farming goes on there as it is a riverine area with mostly fishing as its major farm activity so a lot of its food is transported from other states.

“Rivers has a lot of companies there so the general liquidity of the place is higher so inflation will be higher too. They have high purchasing power as an oil-producing state, if their purchasing power is not met with an adequate supply, there’s likely to be high inflation,” he said.

Bauchi State is reported by NBS to have the highest share of poor and vulnerable children who are deprived of school attendance for their school age at 54 percent according to the Multidimensional Poverty Index.

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate hits 21.91 percent in February and food inflation accelerated to 24.35 percent.

According to the CPI report, Sokoto, Borno and Cross River recorded an inflation rate of 18.90, 18.94 and 19.62 percent, the slowest rise in headline year-on-year basis for the period.