The cost of living crisis in Nigeria is showing no signs of abating as the prices of basic needs continue to surge significantly amid rising multidimensional poverty, accelerated inflation and other macroeconomic fundamentals.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its November transport fare watch, air fares for a single route journey rose by approximately 98 percent (97.9 percent) moving from N37 thousand in November 2021 to N73,267 in November 2022.
On a monthly comparison, air fares increased by 0.09 percent from N73,198 in October.
Similarly, for road users, the average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city per drop rose by 42.69 percent from N446.50 in November 2021 to N637.10 during the review period, but increased 0.12 percent from N636 in October 2022.
“the average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity per drop rose to N3,848.48 in November 2022 indicating an increase of 0.07 percent on a month-on-month compared to the value of N3,845.81 in October 2022. On a year-on-year basis, the fare prices rose by 45.53 percent from N2,644.50 in November 2021,” it stated.
Furthermore, the average fare paid on Okada during the review period was N459.02 which was 45.13 percent higher than the N316 paid in November 2021. Between October and November it increased by 0.12 percent to N458.05.
The average fare paid for water transport in the review period increased to N1,006.33 from N862 in the corresponding period of 2021, representing an increase of 16.66 percent .
Earlier in July, the Association of Private Transport Company Owners of Nigeria (APTCON) issued a memo directing its members to increase prices by 25 percent due to the prevalent harsh economic situation, high cost of operations and rising cost of fuel.
Similarly, fuel scarcity has lingered from October 2022, causing the pump price of fuel to go as high as N200 at filling stations while black market operators sell as high as N400 per litre.
Read also: Airfares up by 97% in one year – NBS
“At the state level the bus journey within the city (per drop constant route), Taraba recorded the highest with N845.15 followed by Bauchi State with N800.10; For intercity bus travel (state route charged per person fare) in November 2022, the highest fare was recorded in Abuja with N6,000.00 followed by Adamawa with N5,300.00,” the report stated.
The High transportation cost also fueled an increase in the prices of food, clothes and other items which data from the NBS’s Selected Food Price Watch for November affirmed.
The average price of 1kg locally sold loose rice increased by 18.95 percent to N500 in November 2022 from N421 in November 2021 while imported high quality rice increased from N568 in the previous year to N704 in the review period representing a 23.8 percent increase.
A tuber of yam increased by 29.25 percent to N421 from N325 in November 2021, sweet potato increased by 31.5 percent to N264 form N201 in the previous year while Irish potato increased by 31.6 percent to N531 in the review period from N403 in 2021.
“The average price of Palm oil (1 bottle) increased by 29.87% from N775.11 in November 2021 to N1,006.64 in November 2022. It also grew by 3.91% on a month-on-month basis. In the same vein, the average price of Vegetable oil (1 bottle) stood at N1,142.99 in November 2022, showing an increase of 30.41% from N876.47 in November 2021. On a month-on-month basis, it rose by 3.34% from N1,106.08 in October 2022,” it stated.
For proteins, the average price of 1kg boneless beef was N2,337 which is a 29 percent increase from N1812 in the previous year, frozen chicken also increased by 22.35 percent moving from N2167 in 2021 to N2651 in the review period while frozen Mackerel increased by 19.33 percent to N1570 from N1316 in November 2021.
With inflation at 21.47 percent and the lingering fuel scarcity, concerns are raised that the living cost will further increase as election period nears.
Alex Sienaert, chief economist at World Bank, Nigeria said recently that accelerated inflation growth has eroded the N30,000 minimum wage by 55 percent and widened the poverty net with an estimated five million people in 2022.
He warned that if structural reforms are not implemented, 23 million more Nigerians will live in extreme poverty by 2030.
