Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, Lagos, is officially the most expensive state in the country.
This follows the latest inflation data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
According to NBS, the inflation rate for Lagos state rose to 25.7 per cent in June, compared to the national average of 22.7 percent.
The implication of this is that the prices of goods and services in Lagos state increased by 25.7 percent compared to the same period last year.
Also, the NBS revealled that Lagos recorded the highest inflation rate of 2.7 percent in June, indicating a faster pace of price changes than other states.
The national data body blame the increase on the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government.
It added that the removal led to a sharp rise in the pump price of petrol in Lagos.
Politics Nigeria reports that before the removal, Lagos enjoyed a lower fuel price than other states due to its proximity to ports and major depots.
This consequently eliminated the transportation costs associated with petrol distribution.
Lagosians also enjoyed the benefits of fuel subsidy as it was widely implemented across the state.
However, with the subsidy removal, Lagosians now pay almost the same as other Nigerians for fuel with fuel prices jumping more than 2 folds from N180/litre to about N490/litre.
The high cost of fuel has a ripple effect on other sectors of the economy, such as transportation, food, housing and utilities.
As a result, Lagosians are feeling the pinch of inflation more than ever.
The NBS data showed that Lagos had the second-highest food inflation rate of 30.4 percent in June, trailing Kwara State with 30.8 percent.
Kogi (29.7 percent) and Ondo (29.2 percent), also recorded high food inflation rates.
