Nigeria’s rising inflation continues to bite harder, pushing more citizens into poverty as the cost of living and purchasing power shrink under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

This is as headline inflation increased 24 times in two years to 27.33 per cent in October, propelled by food inflation, which soared to 31.52 per cent in October 2023 from 30.64 per cent in September 2023.

Food items, accommodation, clothing, electricity, education fees and other prices have all hit the rooftop.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, quickly insisted that its recent monetary policy has started yielding results despite not holding the Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting since September.

But, a recent market survey showed that food prices have recently skyrocketed by at least 20 per cent.

For instance, a mudu of rice had moved to N1,700 from N1,500, beans (Red) to N1100 from N800, 1.4-litre of groundnut oil to N3,000 from N2500, a loaf of bread N1100 from N700, eggs to N3000 from N2700 for a crate, garri (Red) N700 from N500 a mudu.

Chinedu Odah, an Abuja resident explaining the impact of inflation on him, said, “Through the past months, I have been on a daily survival mode because of hikes in the price of goods and services.

“At the same time, there is also an upsurge in the cost of education, so I am not only struggling to cater to feed my family but I am also met with the battle to keep them in their various schools regardless of the increment.

“So, truthfully, I derive my strength from a saying: when it gets overwhelming, remember God is too big to owe you.

“Huge sacrifices are being made on my end, given my position and responsibility in the home, just to try and keep up with the running costs.

“Months back, we budgeted and spent N10,000 to provide basic needs for the family in a week. Currently, N20,000 is barely enough to cover the same costs.

“Months ago, I spent N1,000 for daily transportation to work in the Central Area and back home. Currently, I spend N2,500 from my house to the same Central Area and back home.”

Odah is not alone, Amina Zakaria, a resident of Kaduna, said her household is living from hand-to-mouth due to the hike in food prices.

“We no longer eat three square meals, sometimes one, at other times it is two, walahi Nigeria hard for my family”, she said.

Nkechi Nwankwo, a resident of Port Harcourt Rivers State, said, “The prices of food items are increasing daily, the worst thing is that my income has remained the same. Money has value, too. One can’t buy things in the market.”

This is the lamentation on the lips of many Nigerians, whether in the North or South.

According to the World Bank, in the five months of 2023, accelerating inflation pushed four million Nigerians into poverty.

The Washington-based development bank’s data came months after the multidimensional poverty index released in November last year said 133 million people in Nigeria live below the poverty line.

But upon the emergence of President Tinubu, he vowed to take Nigeria’s economy out of the woods with his renewed hope mantra, but months down the line, Nigerians are yet to have the feelgood factor.

Since June this year, the fuel subsidy removal and foreign market liberalisation have negatively impacted the nation’s economy.

Though the government said that after subsidy removal, its revenue jumped from an average of N650 million monthly to over N1 trillion in the last four months, the impact on the well-being of Nigerians is yet to be felt.