Nigeria’s headline inflation cooled for the first time in almost two years to 33.40 percent in July 2024 but remains high in the northern part of the country.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), consumer prices were highest in Bauchi at 46.04 percent while it slowed to the lowest in Benue at 27.28 percent.
“All Items inflation rate on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Bauchi (46.04%), Jigawa (40.77%), and Kebbi (37.47%) while Benue (27.28%), Delta (28.06%) and Borno (28.33%) recorded the slowest rise in Headline inflation on Year-on-Year basis,” the NBS said.
“On a Month-on-Month basis, however, July 2024 recorded the highest increases in Abuja (3.91%), Borno (3.84%), Enugu (3.76%), while Taraba (0.17%), Kwara (0.62%) and Ondo (0.91%) recorded the slowest rise on Month-on-Month inflation,” it added.
Northern Nigeria has continued to witness rising prices, especially on food as insecurity pushes farmers off their farms.
The northern people in Nigeria are predominantly subsistence farmers with traditional skills and tools for farming but bandits and kidnappers have taken over large swathes of territory in the northwest and central regions.
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The challenge that insecurity poses has primarily manifested at dining tables and driven people to the streets, which, in a way, has complicated Nigeria’s already fragile security situation, SB Morgen said in a report.
“While hunger and economic woes affect the entire country, they are significantly more severe in the North,” the report stated.
Available data revealed that the region has the most insecure states despite being the largest agricultural supplier of the country.
As insecurity persists, multiple taxations by bandit warlords operating in the rural areas are shrinking farmers’ proceeds – a blow for a country ranked 109th worldwide in 2023 Global Hunger Index.
“In early 2024, SBM found that no less than N139 million was paid as farm levies (including planting and harvesting) to bandits who demanded at least N224 million across the North between 2020 and 2023,” the report said.
“In the same period leading up to June 2024, at least 1,356 farmers were killed across the country, with most of the killings occurring in the North,” it added.
These illegal tolls have made it difficult for farmers in the region to access their farms and added to the mounting food insecurity exacerbated by factors such as an unstable currency.
