{"id":2057,"date":"2025-08-04T09:13:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/?p=2057"},"modified":"2025-08-04T09:13:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:13:05","slug":"nigeria-losing-battle-against-hunger-as-food-inflation-persists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/nigeria-losing-battle-against-hunger-as-food-inflation-persists\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria losing battle against hunger as food inflation persists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Taofeek Oyedokun<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2026Experts blame insecurity, economic reforms<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026say govt\u2019s promises, actions not addressing the issue<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Three years ago, Jelili Adewale, a father of three living in Lagos, needed N100,000 every month to feed his family. Today, he spends more than double with stagnant income.<\/p>\n

\u201cI earn N300,000 monthly, but food alone takes up almost N200,000 now,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s nearly 70 percent of my salary gone before we talk about rent, school fees, or transport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jelili\u2019s story is no longer uncommon. Across Nigeria, families are reeling under the weight of food inflation that has turned even basic meals into luxuries. From urban slums in Lagos to farming communities in Benue, the cry is the same: hunger is winning.<\/p>\n

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Warnings from the world<\/h3>\n

In the North-East, where insurgency has lingered for nearly two decades, the World Food Programme (WFP) recently warned that 3.5 million people are at risk of starvation. But hunger has long spread beyond the conflict zones.<\/p>\n

From Lagos to Makurdi, Sokoto to Abakaliki, the cry is the same: food is just too expensive.<\/p>\n

In June, a joint report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and WFP named Nigeria as one of 13 hunger hotspots in the world needing urgent help. But ask anyone on the street and you\u2019ll hear that help hasn\u2019t arrived.<\/p>\n

While Nigeria\u2019s headline inflation rate has slowed for three consecutive months, food inflation remains stubbornly high. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), food inflation rose to 21.97% in June, up from 21.14% in May.<\/p>\n

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At the heart of this crisis lies a perfect storm: climate shocks, insurgency, economic mismanagement, and systemic corruption. Together, they have disrupted food systems and eroded the purchasing power of households.<\/p>\n

From jollof to luxury<\/h3>\n

Nothing captures the economic hardship more vividly than the Jollof Index, a tool developed by SBM Intelligence to track the cost of preparing a simple pot of jollof rice. Once a weekend staple for Nigerian families, the dish has become a metaphor for the nation\u2019s hunger.<\/p>\n

In 2016, preparing jollof rice for a family of five cost just over N4,000. Today, that same meal gulps N28,000, according to SBM\u2019s latest report titled \u201cThe Crushing Cost of a Pot.\u201d For the average Nigerian family, that\u2019s nearly half the minimum monthly wage, spent on a single meal.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just jollof rice. A 50kg bag of rice now sells for N90,000, up from N30,000 before June 2023. A loaf of bread that cost N750 in the same period now goes for N1,500. The struggle to feed a family is no longer just a concern of the poor; it\u2019s reaching into Nigeria\u2019s middle class.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust three years ago, I used to buy a tuber of yam for a thousand naira, but the same size now costs N4,000,\u201d said Olabisi Jimoh, a mother of two in Egbeda area of Lagos.<\/p>\n

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In towns and villages across Nigeria, children are missing school due to malnutrition. Farmers are abandoning their land due to insecurity. Urban workers are skipping lunch just to save money.<\/p>\n

Periodic droughts and floods have also become more intense, devastating farms across the country. Meanwhile, banditry and insurgency have displaced thousands of farmers, leading to fallow lands and broken supply chains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taofeek Oyedokun \u2026Experts blame insecurity, economic reforms \u2026say govt\u2019s promises, actions not addressing the issue…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-nigeria"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","wpucv-grid-three":"","wpucv-grid-two":"","wpucv-grid-one":"","wpucv-classic":"","wpucv-classic-small":"","wpucv-galary":"","covernews-slider-full":"","covernews-slider-center":"","covernews-featured":"","covernews-medium":"","covernews-medium-square":""},"author_info":{"info":["vicrollion"]},"category_info":"Economy<\/a> Nigeria<\/a>","tag_info":"Nigeria","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2059,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057\/revisions\/2059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}