Nigerians to witness more hunger, hardship as inflation jumps to 29.9%

Nigerians to witness more hunger, hardship as inflation jumps to 29.9%

More hardship and hunger is expected among citizens as Nigeria’s inflation hit 29.9 percent.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday revealed that the inflation rate increased year-on-year (YoY) by 0.98 percentage points to 29.9 per cent in January 2024 from 28.92 per cent in December 2023.

The disclosure by the NBS was contained in its Consumer Price Index, CPI, report for January 2024, stating that food inflation also increased to 35.41 per cent during the period from 33.93 per cent in December r “In January 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 29.9 per cent relative to the December 2023 headline inflation rate, which was 28.92%.

“Looking at the movement, the January 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.98 percentage points when compared to the December 2023 headline inflation rate.

“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in January 2024 was 2.64 per cent, which was 0.35 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.29 percent).

“This means that in January 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is greater than the rate of increase in the average price level in December 2023.”

On food inflation, NBS said: “The food inflation rate in January 2024 was 35.41 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 11.1 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2023 (24.32%).

“The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, oil and fat, fish, meat, fruit, coffee, tea, and cocoa.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in January 2024 was 3.21%; this was 0.49 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.72 per cent).

“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending January 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 28.91 per cent which was a 7.38 percentage point increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2023 (21.53%).

“In January 2024, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi (44.18 per cent), Kwara (40.87 per cent), and Rivers (40.08 per cent), while Bauchi (28.83 per cent), Adamawa (29.8 per cent) and Kano (30.08 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis,” the NBS statement said.

READ ALSO: Cement price shoots up from N6000 in January to N15000

There has been mass protest all over the country over the economic hardship being faced by Nigerians.

Neptune Prime reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared a two-day nationwide protest on February 27 and 28.

Earlier, the NLC and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) issued a 14-day ultimatum to the federal government over the rising cost of living in the country.

Apart from hunger and high cost of transportation, there are fresh fears of homelessness as the price of a 50-kilogramme bag of cement jumped to N7,500 from a previous cost of N4,500 in December 2023, representing a 60 percent increase within two months.

Stakeholders said the rising cost of cement is already creating panic among builders, contractors, block manufacturers, real estate developers and intending low-income home owners.

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