NIGERIAN’s rising food inflation at 40.66 per cent as of May 2024, has increased the cost of average Nigerian spending to N1,041 to eat a healthy diet, the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have shown.
The Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) by the NBS is the least expensive combination of locally available items that meet globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines.
It is used as a measure of physical and economic access to healthy diets. This is a lower bound (or floor) of the cost per adult per day excluding the cost of transportation and meal preparation.
The sustained rise in the cost of a healthy diet came at a time when Nigerians’ purchasing power was weakened as a result of Tinubu’s administration’s Naira’s devaluation resulting to weak purchasing power when transacting with the Nigerian currency.
The ICIR has monitored that, over time, between May 2023 and May 2024, the average cost of eating a healthy meal has risen consistently as indicators like inflation rate, food inflation, and cost of fuel, which affected the prices of transportation, increased monthly.
Recall that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 33.95 per cent in May 2024. Also, the Food inflation rate in May 2024 was 40.66 per cent which is 15.84 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2023 (24.82 per cent).
On the Cost of Eating a Healthy Diet, findings showed that as of May 2023, when President Bola Tinubu assumed office, the cost of a healthy diet was N503. With this new data, the price increased by 107 per cent in one year.
That is more than double the amount paid to eat a healthy meal one year after Tinubu’s assumption.
According to NBS data, the Cost of a Healthy Diet was 1 per cent higher than the amount recorded in the previous month (April 2024, was N1,035).
At the State level Ebonyi, Abia, and Anambra States recorded the highest cost with N1,225, N1,215, and N1,205 respectively. Kano accounted for the lowest costs with N898, followed by Jigawa with N899 while Yobe and Katsina accounted for N906.
At the Zonal level, the average CoHD was highest in the South East Zone at N1,189 per day, followed by the South-West Zone at N1,160 per day. The lowest average Cost of a Healthy diet was recorded in North West Zone with N919 per day.
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at [email protected] (jameskennyogunyale@gmail) or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames