Nigerians are facing hard times following the astronomical rise in food prices and other commodities over the last two months.
This comes as many people confess that they find it difficult to feed even as their income dwindles.
Politics Nigeria reports that Nigeria’s monthly inflation rate soared to a seven-year high in June.’
This comes after President Bola Tinubu scrapped fuel subsidies and allowed the currency to weaken.
Prices rose 2.1% in the month, the most since May 2016, and annual inflation quickened to 22.8% from 22.4% in May, according to the National Bureau of Statistics data.
However, an expert insisted that the figure does not reflect the reality on ground, as they have to cope with rising transport fares and runaway food prices, among others.
Isma’il Abubakar, a resident of the Farawa area of Tarauni Local Government Area, said: “I have two wives and seven children. I used to ride a motorcycle, but I now have to choose between keeping the motorcycle or the family.
“I cannot maintain both at the same time; I spend not less than a thousand naira for just ingredients that will be managed to cook two square meals. This is besides the grain, be it rice or maize.”
Another head of a family, Yahaya Salisu, said, “We eat just to survive. We no longer eat meat or fish except on rare occasions. Every day, the prices of foodstuffs are going higher.”
In Abeokuta, Ogun State, Mrs Dorcas Sobowale said both food prices and the cost of transportation have increased by over 50 per cent.
Sobowale, a trader and housewife, said a basket of tomato and pepper, which usually sold for between N6,000 and N8,000, has increased to N30,000; a basin of Garri from N2,700 to N5,200 and a carton of fish from N22,000 to N35,000.
She added that transport fare has also skyrocketed with a distance which usually cost N100, now N200 or N250.
Another housewife and a baker, Mrs Abisola Adeyemi-Pedro, described the food price inflation as “frustrating and unbearable.”
Meanwhile, women in Taraba State have started a two-week warning strike over the rising cost of grains, especially guinea corn which they use for their businesses.
